(Clearwisdom.net) I practice Falun Dafa, and I have a six-year-old daughter. Sometimes when I ask her to practice with me, she resists. I would like to tell you the story of our cultivation and how I have managed to encourage her diligence in her practice and to help her progress.

My daughter had a bad cough ever since she was a baby. When she had coughing fits, medicine did not seem to work. I started to practice Falun Gong in 1996. When the persecution began in July 1999, unfortunately, I stopped my practice. However, in 2003 Master gave me another chance and I began to practice once more. For a year after that my daughter did not cough.

In the spring of 2004 my daughter suddenly started to cough again. My fellow practitioners shared their understandings with me and said that if a child is sick, it must have something to do with the parents' cultivation. At that time I thought that my child was not a practitioner, and that illness, aging and death would be a part of her life as an everyday person. When my husband took my daughter to see a doctor, I thought that it was only a test for me to see if I could give up the attachment of sentimentality. After three days of taking medicine she was fine, but half a month later, she started to cough again. Suddenly, I understood the reason for her illness.

I hugged my daughter and said: "Do you know why I am your mother? Let me tell you. You came from a beautiful place, but one day you discovered that Falun Dafa was being spread on the earth so you hurriedly came here to obtain the Fa. Later you found out that I was a Falun Dafa practitioner, so you decided to be born to me so that we could cultivate together. This is why you are my daughter." She looked at me and nodded as if she knew that this was true.

I continued: "Now is the time for you to begin to practice Falun Gong, as you are already five years old." My daughter listened very quietly and nodded her head. And so we began to practice together. On the second day of her cultivation, I sent her to kindergarten. All day I sent forth righteous thoughts, asking Master for help, as I was worried that she would have a coughing fit at school. Please help her to eliminate karma at home and not to bother the kindergarten teachers, I thought. When I picked her up in the afternoon the teacher told me that she had only coughed a little in the afternoon and that it was nothing serious.

In the evening when we practiced the exercises, she was completely fine. My daughter said to me "Mom, we should put an advertisement on TV to tell people that Falun Gong can stop people's coughs without medicine. I told her how much I wanted everyone to know that Falun Dafa was wonderful, but that there were many people who could not tell good from bad, and who slander Falun Gong. I told her that I had already told many people that Falun Dafa was good. Since then her cough has never come back. Through this experience I now understand that to be a mother of a practitioner is a very big responsibility and not one to be taken lightly.

In the spring of this year, my daughter had a fever for two days. We practiced the exercises, but it did not help. She did not want to eat or drink, and just wanted to sleep. I knew it was a test for her so I asked: "Do you think this is eliminating karma or that you are sick?" She replied that she was eliminating karma. From her response I knew that she would be okay, but her father was impatient and said, "Hurry up and send forth righteous thoughts, and then we will go to see the doctor." I knew Master was reminding me to send forth righteous thoughts. So I did and asked Master to help us. Later on when I helped her get dressed, she put on her own shoes and said: "Mom, I am fine now." "Really?" I asked again, "Are you sure?" "Yes," she replied. Then I asked my husband if he thought it was still necessary to take her to the doctor. My husband asked her seriously, "Are you really fine now? If you are, you cannot just lie in bed and you have to eat." My daughter assured him that she was okay, so the visit to the doctor was cancelled. That night I shared with her some principles of the Fa and we practiced the exercises. My husband was relieved that she did not have a fever any more. I know it was our compassionate Master who had helped us.

When my daughter is lazy and does not want to practice, I tell her the principles of the Fa in a story-like way. For example, 'you feel tired because you are not determined.' When she does not think of other kids first, I ask her, "If you are a practitioner, you should always be good to others and put them first. Do you do that?" She then understands, improves herself and has been making rapid progress.

I feel deeply that in the last period of the Fa-rectification, we should help our children to cultivate diligently. Children may not understand the Fa as deeply as adults, but if we tell them the principles of the Fa in a way they can understand, it will have a good effect. After all, parents have a very strong influence on their children, especially those who are under 10 years old. Maybe we can write some children's songs that teach the principles of the Fa in a fun way that can also influence their friends positively.