Top 10 'Eccentric Teaching Diseases' in Parenting Methods in Vietnam

We force fish to climb trees and monkeys to swim underwater. Many parents always want their children to know everything, to be on par with others. They want their children to learn or excel in whatever others' children are doing, even pushing their children to do it better than their peers, without considering whether the child desires or is ready for it. This coercion often leads children down the wrong path and ill-fits them for adulthood in society.

Many parents and schools in Vietnam often refrain from allowing children to go outside when it rains or even cancel outdoor educational trips for fear of potential mishaps due to unfavorable weather conditions. However, the Japanese view this as an opportunity to toughen children and foster their adaptability. They may even send sick children to school to help them forget about their illness and recover quickly. Of course, severe illness or contagious diseases are exceptions.

On the 30th day of Tet, VTV shared the story of an elderly father from Nam Dinh who went to Hanoi to work hard and forgot about Tet just to earn enough money to support his child in college. Not to mention the child supporting the father. The issue of parents refusing to let their children grow up is a serious and prevalent cancer in our society. Many parents see serving or doing everything for their children blindly as joy, responsibility, or simply as care or compensation for something. However, that is truly a mistake beyond imagination. Children need to be taught, learn, and be self-reliant as they grow up in order to take control of their future, rather than being served blindly like that.

Parents need to pay attention that: having a child excel academically is good, but if the child only knows how to study or only knows how to excel academically, then it is not good at all. In reality, very few children can excel in studies comprehensively. The notion that a child only needs to excel academically is peculiar to many parents in Vietnam. This also means that we are training industrial chickens, emotionless robots, and exam warriors, no better than each other. To avoid such negative thinking, parents need to encourage children to participate in various physical activities and social engagements, and enroll them in skill development classes from a young age, to cultivate children into well-rounded and useful individuals for the community.

Not just children, but even adults in Vietnam lack conscientiousness and proper usage of public facilities: They don't know how to queue in public restrooms, maintain general hygiene, or wash their hands properly... These small things can develop into bad habits as children grow into adults, so parents need to pay close attention.

This is how parents, teachers, and schools are unfairly judging children, sometimes even teaching them to judge each other, leading to misunderstandings and distorted perceptions.

Excelling in studies is for... warming one's own body.

Our selfishness over the years has been detrimental to our children. We encourage them to become solitary trees reaching out for sunlight only for themselves. Competition isn't about motivating each other to grow and progress; it's about dragging each other down, even trampling over one another. Consequently, our sense of community and unity is virtually nonexistent. Fighting for road space or gaps in traffic, or even stealing from each other during festivals, are vivid manifestations of this.

Mathematics is undoubtedly crucial, and everyone must learn and grasp its fundamentals. However, the notion that children must excel in Mathematics to lay the groundwork for other subjects and foster creativity is entirely misguided. Creativity and the ability to think of every child can be cultivated through learning and exposure to everything in life. If children excel only in Mathematics without being able to absorb interesting things or explore everything around them, how can they develop critical thinking and creativity?

Being a well-behaved and academically successful child carries a noble mission of beautifying the faces of parents and the entire family. The achievements and awards that children attain through academic and sports competitions play a significant role in making parents feel proud and eager to show off, much like a precious piece of jewelry. However, a child's excellence is one thing, but having their own thoughts, opinions, and self-reliance to pursue their aspirations in the future is what truly matters. There's no need for any parents or relatives to boast about the child's achievements as it should be evident and genuinely worthy of pride.