Vietnamese parents do not attend the lessons at the schools, but in fact, they also have to learn hard to become the fellow-travelers of their children, who go to the first grade.
Pham Thi Thuy in Thanh Cong residential quarter, believes that children need to grow up in a natural way. Therefore, unlike many other parents, Thuy decided that her daughter should not be taught to read and write before the girl goes to the first grade.
However, Thuy now feel regrets about her decision. All the friends of her daughter now can read and write well, while her daughter has just recognized some letters.
Therefore, Thuy has to “give extra lessons” to the girl after the school hours, so that the girl would not lag behind the classmates. Besides, Thuy’s daughter also has three private tutoring hours a week with a qualified teacher from a prestigious school.
However, the girl feels uncomfortable with the fact that she has to review lessons in the evenings instead of watching cartoon on TV.
Thuy said that the girl cannot be concentrate on the writing and she never can fulfill the exercises as scheduled. The girl just tries to do the things the mother tells her to do, while she does not care if she does this correctly.
“She only likes watching cartoons, while she is very lazy in practicing writing. Therefore, I always have to shout myself hoarse every evening when I teach her to write,” Thuy complained.
Unlike Thuy, Thanh Huong, an office worker, takes pride of the son, who can read and write before going to primary school. The boy seems to be very good at mathematics. However, Huong still believes that the boy cannot learn harder.
The problem is that the boy prefers play to lesson. He himself would fulfill a part of the home exercises given by the teachers. Therefore, Huong has to stay with the boy in the evening to urge him to fulfill the exercises.
“I have to stay with him until 11pm every day,” she complained. “He cannot concentrate in writing. He poses a lot of questions while writing. Sometimes he asks for relax, or complains that he is thirsty,” she said.
Nguyen Xuan Lam, a parent in Hai Ba Trung district in Hanoi, said he drew up a timetable for the son who goes to the first grade this year.
The boy is woken up at 6.30 am, has breakfast and then goes to school. After he returns home in the afternoon and has a bath and dinner; he has to do home exercises from 8 pm to 9 pm, then he needs to go to bed.
However, Lam has admitted that the timetable has never been respected. “He always complains that he feels too tired.” Therefore, it takes more time than initially expected to fulfill home exercises.
“Therefore, we cannot go to bed before 10 pm. Sometimes we finished our works at 11pm,” he said.Pham Kim Quy, a psychologist, has advised parents to create joys for their children instead of forcing them to learn to hard.
“Let children enjoy everyday at school,” he said, explaining that children need a period to gradually get adapted to the new circumstances. In the past, they spent most of his time on playing, while they now have to spend most of their time on learning. Therefore, parents should not be overly impatient with their children and ask them learn too hard.
