有一次，曾參的妻子要去菜市場買東西，兒子知道了，哭著也要一起去。曾參的妻子沒有辦法，只好對兒子說： 「你最聽話了，如果你乖乖在家的話，等我回來後，就殺豬給你吃，好不好？」兒子一聽到有豬肉吃，就乖乖地留在家裡等媽媽回來。過了不久，曾參的妻子從市場回來了，只看到曾參和兒子正在抓豬，準備要殺來吃。
「你在做什麼？」她著急地問曾參：「豬還沒養大，殺了多可惜！」
曾參看看妻子，一邊把豬綁起來，一邊回答：「你剛剛不是說兒子乖乖在家的話，就要殺豬給他吃嗎？兒子在家很乖呢。」
「我……我只是哄他聽話啦，不算數的！」
曾參放下手裡的繩子，很嚴肅地對她說：｢對孩子不能隨便開玩笑， 因為他還沒有思考和判斷能力，必須向父母學習，聽父母的話。現在做媽媽的欺騙孩子，是教會他如何欺騙人，媽媽欺騙兒子，兒子就不會再相信自己的媽媽了，這絕對不是正確教孩子的方法。｣
最後曾參把豬殺了，就煮成一鍋肉給兒子吃。
One day, Zeng Shen’s wife wanted to go to the market to buy something. Their son cried and wanted to go too. So, his wife told her son, “You are an obedient son. If you agree to stay at home, I will slaughter the pig for you to eat after I come home. Is this okay? ”Hearing that there would be tasty pork to eat, her son agreed to wait at home for his mother’s return. After a while, Zeng Shen’s wife came home from the market and saw Zeng Shen and her son trying to catch the pig so that they could slaughter and eat it.
“What are you doing? ”she asked Zeng Shen anxiously, “The pig is still small, what a pity it would be to slaughter it now! ”
Zeng Shen looked at his wife as he tied up the pig and said to her, “Didn’t you promise our son that if he agreed to stay at home, you would slaughter the pig for him to eat? Our son has kept his promise. ”
“I merely wanted to coax him to stay at home, I wasn’t serious about laughtering the pig! ” she said.
Zeng Shen put down the rope in his hand and told his wife sternly, “We cannot make frivolous promises with our son. Because he has not yet the ability to think and judge, he must learn from his parents, and listen to what we say. If you lie to your son now, it will only teach him how to lie. If you lie to your son, he will stop believing what you say. This is surely not the right way to teach children. ”
In the end, Zeng Shen slaughtered the pig, and cooked it in a pot for his son to eat.
