By Pingting / April 28, 2026
有一天，跟娃儿闲聊。
我觉得闲着也是闲着，就突然来了一句：
“你知道吗？一个人最多只能活三万多天！”
他说：
“能不能别说了？”
我笑了一下，说：
“放心吧，妈妈还会活很久的。反正每个人都会死的。小时候没有人告诉过我。要是有人早点告诉我，我就不会浪费掉接近一半时间了。”
我以为话题到这里就结束了。
没想到他淡淡来了一句：
“年龄最大的120岁。”
我愣了一下：
“你怎么知道的？”
他说：
“我看到的。”
——
我顺着问：
“那你知道，为什么有些人能活那么久吗？”
他摇头：
“不知道。”
我开始一本正经地讲：
“基因，还有后天吃得健康、心情愉悦、适当运动，这些都有帮助！”
他立刻追问：
“什么叫基因？”
我当场卡住。
脑子一片空白。
心里想：我哪会解释这个啊……
但还是硬着头皮挤出一句：
“比如说，每个人一出生，身上就有不同的基因。”
——
我继续往下说：
“所以我们活着的时候，就不能怕这怕那，杞人忧天。我们要把每一天都活得精彩。如果一个人一直做自己，就不怕死亡了。因为想做的事情都做了，就没什么好担心的了。”
说完，我问他：
“你觉得我们明天会是一个美好的一天吗？”
我以为他会说“是的”。
结果他来了一句：
“probably not！”
我一愣：
“为什么？”
他很平静地说：
“因为过一天，就少一天了。”
——
那一刻，我的感觉是：
我还在“活得精彩”这一层，
他已经直接看到——
时间，是在减少的。
——
我又换了个方向问他：
“那你知道，我们做一件事的时候，只要注意哪三件事吗？”
他说：“不知道。”
我开始总结：
“第一，生命安全。如果这件事会让我们失去生命，我们不干。
第二，财产安全。如果这件事会让我们破产，我们不干。
第三，如果这件事违法，赚再多钱我们也不干。”
我问他：
“你觉得我说的有没有道理？”
他点点头：“嗯。”
——
我说：
“那我们现在复习一下。第一是人生安全，第二是财产安全，第三……完了，我忘了。”
他立刻接上：
“不违法！”
我当场笑了。
看到他记得比我还牢，我就放心了。
婷妈的亲子日常 创作于 2026.04.28
原创发布： tingtingma.com
写给孩子，也写给正在成长的大人。
未经授权，请勿转载。
Tingting Mom’s Parenting Journal | 245. He Said: One More Day Means One Less Day
By Pingting / April 27, 2026
One day, I was chatting casually with my child.
Since we were just passing time anyway, I suddenly said:
“Do you know this? A person can live at most a little over thirty thousand days!”
He said:
“Can you not say that?”
I smiled and said:
“Don’t worry, Mom will still live a long time. Anyway, everyone dies eventually. No one told me this when I was little. If someone had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted almost half of my time.”
I thought the conversation would end there.
But then he said calmly:
“The oldest age is 120.”
I paused:
“How do you know that?”
He said:
“I saw it.”
—
I followed up:
“Then do you know why some people can live that long?”
He shook his head:
“I don’t know.”
I began explaining seriously:
“Genes, and also things like eating healthy, staying happy, and exercising regularly—all of these help!”
He immediately asked:
“What are genes?”
I froze.
My mind went completely blank.
I thought to myself: I don’t even know how to explain this…
But I still forced out a sentence:
“For example, when each person is born, they already have different genes.”
—
I continued:
“So while we’re alive, we shouldn’t be afraid of everything or worry unnecessarily. We should make every day meaningful. If a person always stays true to themselves, then they won’t fear death. Because once you’ve done what you wanted to do, there’s nothing left to worry about.”
After that, I asked him:
“Do you think tomorrow will be a good day?”
I thought he would say “yes.”
But instead, he said:
“Probably not!”
I was surprised:
“Why?”
He said calmly:
“Because every day that passes is one less day.”
—
At that moment, my feeling was:
I was still at the level of “living a meaningful life,”
while he had already seen that—
time is decreasing.
—
I shifted the direction and asked:
“Then do you know what three things we should pay attention to when doing anything?”
He said, “I don’t know.”
I summarized:
“First, life safety. If something could cost us our life, we don’t do it.
Second, financial safety. If something could make us go bankrupt, we don’t do it.
Third, if something is illegal, no matter how much money it makes, we don’t do it.”
I asked him:
“Do you think what I said makes sense?”
He nodded: “Mm.”
—
I said:
“Alright, let’s review. First is life safety, second is financial safety, and third… oh no, I forgot.”
He immediately said:
“Not illegal!”
I laughed right away.
Seeing that he remembered it better than I did, I felt reassured.
Tingma’s Parenting Diary
Written on April 28, 2026
Originally published at: tingtingma.com
Written for my child, and for the adults who are still growing.
Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
Originally written in Chinese by the author.
This English version was translated with the assistance of ChatGPT.