Monday, January 25, 2016

A learning tool for children or something for parents to show off?

Ms Liu from Nanjing is quite unhappy lately. Her daughter, who is in the 5th grade at a local primary school, was expected to display her piano skills in front of the whole class, but couldn't do so because they could not transport the heavy piano to the school.

Liu said she had intended to enjoy being the center of attention on the day, but what she had to settle for was watching other people's children play the harmonica and perform martial arts.

"I allowed her to learn the piano to cultivate her taste in the beginning. But now I regret that because there are too many limitations with it. You can't show your piano skills everywhere," Liu told reporters from Jinling Evening News.

Her comment, however, has sparked a controversy on China's social networks. Most netizens have said that her views were unfathomable, and are suggesting that parents need to have the right attitude with regard to the hobbies that their children pursue.

"I think for her kid, it's most suitable to learn blowing a whistle," commented Sina Weibo user @LiuziEthan.

"I think in this mother's eyes, her child's interest is nothing compared to her own pride," said @JormungandrW.

"Parents' views have a big influence on kids. Learning the piano should be a happy thing for the kid as well as cultivate their tastes. Why do some parents have to be so utilitarian?" questioned @Debbie1965.

In China, it is fairly common for parents to nudge their children towards extra-curricular subjects, either because they believe that their children are interested in them or because they believe learning something else would give their children an advantage going forward.

However, often it is seen that parents do not tend to take their children's wishes into account as much. For instance, when Jinling Evening News asked 96 parents on who decided what instrument their children would learn, only eight of them said that they had let their children choose the instrument on their own. All of the others more or less decided for their kids.

Wenqing, a psychology expert based in Nanjing, said it's common that parents are inclined to ask children to do as they are told. However, such tendency should be controlled, because it's not the parents' pride that children need to bolster.


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