There’s No Fairness on This Path of, Life

This would be a FACT of, L-I-F-E, kid!!!  The conversation between a father and a son, translated…

Summer: The competitions today wasn’t fair?

Me: How was it not?

Summer: They were all sixth graders and we were, fourth graders!

Me: this is, more than, a fair situation!

Summer: How can it be?

Me: You’d played against the group that is older than you, and you’d, lost, that’s normal, and reasonable too, isn’t it?

On this day, the soccer coach at Summer’s school arranged a mix aged competition, the Panthers, a game of eight players, with the fourth graders as competitors of the U10 teams.  And, they were, playing against the U12 teams of fifth, sixth graders.

On the way to the soccer fields, I’d discussed with Sumer, that today’s competition will be a practice competition with the older kids in the school, that he should just, put his skills to practice, best as he can.  He’d started, nodding his head, seemed that he’d, understood me, completely.  Surely, the first game, four to, nothing, they’d, lost.  Then, Summer’s team, the Panthers, lost, ALL the way, game after game, got beaten, by his, U12 older schoolmates.  Using his own descriptions to describe the events: we got, electrocuted by the older schoolmates!

Losing one game, that’s, acceptable.  Two games, it doesn’t feel good.  And, by the third game that they were, losing, Summer immediately started, experience, that people can’t live with, losing all the time.  After losing the series of games, he’d strongly, expressed his, “minor upset” of the matters, felt, that the game has, NO fairness whatsoever.

Toward his upset, I’d thought, where’s the standards of what constitutes as fair and not?  In the competitive world, are there, really, the point of, fairness?  Do we need to, get down to the matter, and discuss it thoroughly the matters of: fair or unfair?  But, as he was, fuming up, I’d not, struck up this, discussion of the subjects.

Since he was little, in soccer, Summer has the will, and the drives to win.  When he’d won, he’d gotten all worked up, and, not hidden his radiant smiles over it, he would also, high-five his teammates, and hug them.  When he’d lost, he’d surely, felt displeased, and, there would be, the aftermath of his losing the games that came.  As the other young competitors started destressing themselves on the cell phone games, he was still, wiping away his tears, unwilling to admit, that his team had, lost the game.  Then, he would contemplate, why didn’t they win this time, and started, evaluating everything, and a few more tears would fall, still refused, to accept that he and his team lost.  This emotional response, more than natural, and normal too.  And normally, it would take a little while, like after we had lunch, or as he’d, gotten completely into the cell phone games, he would then, get himself out of the upset, and, reentering into the group of his teammates then.

For a short while, due to his emotional management when his team lost, it’d, affected the means of how the team played well together, we’d discussed the matter seriously, that if he’d needed to, drop out of the team, to find a new team to join, but he was, unwilling, to, sever off the rapport he’d already, established with the members of his team, and started, changing his behaviors, and, becoming more in tune with his own, emotional response to losing the games.

I kept on believing, that what Summer was upset over, was not because of winning or losing, but the matter of how the games were judged fairly or unfairly.  Winning or losing, was something he could, quickly digest, and accept as is, but back then, he still couldn’t, quite understand, the “difference of opinions on what’s fair and unfair”.

Let’s put it this way, back in the elementary years, he could never accept, why there’s, the existence of, unfairness.  For instance, why was so-and-so, so very, tall, it’s unfair.  Why does someone from class has a cell phone already, it’s not fair.  Why the team members are all leveled differently in their, playing skills, a bit, not fair.  The teachers looked out for certain students, a bit, unfair.

All of these, encounters of, unfairness that troubled him, or maybe, it’s, what he needed to, cross over, before the matter of winning and losing.  I think, even for me, I’d still needed to, introspect my own mind, and troubles, when encountering something that I feel was, unfair.  Fair or not?  This was, a question on the road to growing up, always going to be there, and it will, be a discovery journey we’re constantly on in life too, and will, continue to happen in our day-to-day lives.

And because of this, I wanted to tell him, as the younger graders are playing the higher graders, it’s, going up against someone who’s, out of your level of expertise, it’s only natural that you lose, winning, that would be, unfair, to the, older schoolmates.  Isn’t that right?  If you care about what’s fair or not, you will be more prone to, consider the opposite angles.  Because, you don’t need to get too serious about the fairness of things, because fairness, doesn’t really, exist as black or white.

On the road to life, there’s no, standards of fairness, it’s all interpreted individually differently.  As I finished telling him, Summer then, fell, silent, then, smiled, like he’d, finally understood, that winning and losing is only, in the results, and fair or unfair, that’s all, a false sort of a debate.  Any sort of a debate, there are only, the differences in points of view, it’s nothing on fairness.  I’d recalled, that I’d once told Summer, that in the future, if there’s something he wanted, he’d needed to, work hard to get it, and if he didn’t get it, he should, let go, after all, he had, tried, to attain it.  In the future, I suppose, that will, be how he would, handle things that come up in his life.

And so, this, is on the father’s teaching the son about, fairness, and, there is, no fairness, only the perspectives, the interpretations of what’s fair and what’s not, like how the soccer tournament was uneven, with this young lad’s team, going against older kids, and it’s expected that they don’t win, after all, the kids on the other team are stronger, older, more agile, trained longer than his age group, and this showed, how there’s only the personal interpretations of what’s fair and what’s not, and that’s based off of socialization, and everybody’s socialized differently, so, there’s no, one size fit all!

How Do You Make Up for Missing the Coming of Age of the Children? In the Custody Battles, Do Not Make the Damages Even Harder

How family relations is too important to overlook for all you parents who are, too busy, making ends meet, and NOT spending enough time, with your own young, borrowing from the failed marriage of the singer, Wang, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The marriage of the singer, Wang and his wife, Lee went bust, the woman stayed silent for two whole days, then, started on the offensive, quoted the female blogger, “the one who’s absentee always has a valid excuse”, mentioned how Wang missed all the important milestones of their children’s lives.  The experts told, that the “false” single families are increasing by the numbers today, that there would need to have the “high concentration” of family interactions, to make up for it.

Lee believed, that if you cared, then, you will make the time for it, that love is reflected on the behaviors, not on what is being said, but she’d forgiven, backed down, and Wang stayed absentee, and his children had been disappointed repeatedly, and cried over, over, and over again.  A lot of the middle school and elementary school instructor stated that their story is a great example of “family education” and “emotional education”.

The associate professor of World Journalism University, Jeng stated, whether it be single-parent families or falsified single parenthood, there are, many stories of children coming out of these families well-rounded, the forefront is that the parents need to give the children what they needed the most.  Jeng told, if it’s a false single-parent family, the couple need to explain why they’re absent in the children’s lives; if it’s a single parent family, then, the parents must consider what’s best for the child, when fighting over the parental and custody rights.

The associate professor of Human Development and Family major of the Taiwan National Education University, Wei said, whether it be single parent families or not, the focus should be on having high-quality interactions.  Liking taking an hour of your days, to just spend time with your young, to sit down for a meal together, to exercise together, to stroll together, otherwise, the family interactions, lacking in high quality time together, will eventually, crack, wide open.

And so, this still showed, how very important it is, for you, stupid (b/c that is what you all are???) parents, to MAKE the time, to spend it with your own young, because, they are only young for a very brief moment in your lives, and, if you don’t take advantage of the time with them when they were little, do NOT expect them to be closer to you when they’re older, and, there’s just, NO making up for lost time, with your children IF you had missed out on their younger years, do NOT think, that you can make up for it because you can’t, and that, is the lesson to be taken away, from this.

The Levels of Reading Very Diverse for Children of Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds

This showed, the sharpened contrast, of how the families that are better-to-do, can provide their young children with more reading materials, which adds to their understanding of the world, versus how families in the lower end of the socioeconomic status couldn’t, and this extends into how the families are set up, separately, and due to this differences of availabilities of resources, the rich gets richer, the poor, become, poorer, and, illiterate too!!!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Entering into the fourth grader, Huang’s home in Taipei, books are everywhere, from literature, to general sciences, the assortments all the way, up and down in the bookshelves, to all over the floors, taking up all corners of her home; on the other end, the distant regions elementary school, Pinewoods Elementary in Tainan, in a lot of students’ homes, the only available “reading materials” consist of the farmer’s calendars.

The sharp contrast of desert and oasis of reading.  The nutrients from reading that differed of the children in better versus worse socioeconomic backgrounds is preset.  Who will help the younger generations, to help them gain access of more books in the desert of reading in these children from less well-to-do socioeconomic backgrounds?

And so, this points out the problem, of how the learning provisions, the resources are unequally provided, to the children in the cities and distant-region schools, and due to the socioeconomic background differences, those in the lower end don’t have the time to read to their own young, they’re already, working too hard trying to make their ends meet, they can’t have the mind, nor take the time out of their working life, to read to their young, and this becomes, that vicious cycle, because the kids are falling behind, due to the lack of resources provided to them, and they can’t get out from under.

Take Your Children to the Animal Shelters if They Ask to Have a Pet

Having a pet for your child, it’s, a wonderful thing, but there are, things that you need to consider, before you get that pet for your own child to have, off of the Front Page Sections, words of experts, translated by me…

The C.E.O. of the Kiwi Attention Learning Center, Liao and the secretary of Animal Protection Agency He suggested, through the illustrated books, to taking children to the animal shelters, can help the children know the animals more, to help them know if they really want a pet or not.  And if the families adopted a pet, then, the parents also needed to assist in the caretaking, to help the children get that sense of responsibilities build up, otherwise, children would give up on the feat easily, and, leaving all the caretaking up to the parents.

There are many benefits to having a pet for the kids, other than taking care of others, with that extra sense of companionship too, Liao stated, that hugging and patting the pets, it can increase the experience of sense of touch in your children, and can, calm them more effectively, and you can use the pets to teach the young about matters of life and death too.

He told, take for instance, the lifespan of dogs of thirteen-to-fifteen years, having a dog as a pet, can help your child experience the entire life cycle of the dog, it’s, too precious, a life experience for them.

like this…

photo from online

But, the training of your children’s responsibilities, and caretaking of the pets are, needed.  Liao told, other than confirming if your child has the drive to care for the animal, the parents can use the illustrated books to get the children to understand the habits of the animals they wanted to adopt, to make sure the children are, interested in having a pet.  And, if the family wants a pet, you can choose the options to adopt, and not buy.

He told, the parents can take a tour at the animal shelters with their young, many times, to make sure that the children really do want a pet, to NOT bring a pet home on the very first visit, and in the process of visiting the shelters, the children can become more educated on the life, the habits of the cats and dogs.

Liao told, that after a child turns nine, s/he will then become, completely, independent in her/his daily living routines, the parents should not hold too high an expectation for the child to care for her/his own pets on one’s own, that the thought of looking after the animal together is absolutely, necessary; if you’d demanded that your child takes care of her/his pet all on her/his own, then, your child will give up on the feat easily, and in the end, it would be the parents who will be, looking after the animals.

Liao told, that at first, you can get your children started off on the easier animals, like fish, turtle, insects, etc., etc., etc.  But, there are different caretaking techniques for the variety of animals, a lot of parents are fooled into thinking, that birds are easy to care for, actually, the younger children aren’t fitted to have birds as pets, because, the birds start eating nonstop when food became available to them, and the birds are often, stuffed too full that they’d died, because of the young children’s, overfeeding them.

He said, the mix breeds, the local dog breeds in Taiwan, are easier to care for, that if the child wants a dog, these could be, the options.

So, having a pet for a young child, it teaches them responsibilities, and it teaches them the lessons of life and death, because the child will outlive the pet, and, by helping your young children grieve over the death of a beloved pet, it helps them mature into being.  Having a pet is something wonderful, for all the reasons mentioned above, plus, it gives your child a chance to experience, to give and to receive, unconditional love, but it’s a huge responsibility, because if you don’t get the rules set straight, then you the parents, will be the one, cleaning up after the pets your children wanted to have.

Your Teeth are NOT Made for Biting Other People!

When we tell our kids, “use your words”, this is not, what we mean, that they should BITE someone else, translated…

The very first time my child got bitten by her classmate, it was one bite, the second time, three bites, reason for why my child was bitten was, the one who’d bitten her thought that my child was like, brad.

Thankfully, the external injuries weren’t, too severe, after I took my child in for tetanus shot, the second dose.  We’d blamed ourselves, for allowing our young to get bitten, twice, the first time he got bitten, we’d communicated with him on the angle of, “biting hurts someone”, that he shouldn’t use the “An eye for and eye, and bite the one who’d bitten him back, that he should call for help, and run away as fast as he could.”

I’d told the other parent, “it’s normal, that when kids play together, they may conflict, so long as there’s no serious injuries, and it wasn’t, intentional, we won’t pursue, but you still need to be careful, after all, children are cute sure, but, very, fragile too.” reason why I’d told the biting child’s father this, was because there was the incident of how this classmate who’d bitten another got scratched by the one whom he’d bitten, and, as soon as the father of the other child found out, he became, furious, I think, now that we’re, the victims, we should, take a, milder approach, with more tolerance, to make things easier for both.

like this, in young children…

and, guess what’ll, happen next??? that kid in black is gonna, CRY!!! Photo from online

The father of the classmate saw how we weren’t going to, pursue, and, let out a sigh of relief, asked if the teacher had, disciplined on the matter, and he’d told, “then, I won’t nag him anymore when we go home.”, and, it’s still because of this attitude, that my son got bitten, again!

We can understand, that biting is what happens at this age, and, the road to childrearing, isn’t an easy one to be on, we’d cared more of one another’s attitude on the matter, and the thoughts of it, that we needed to work together, and it couldn’t be that our child became “bread” to the other child, because of our, being, too tolerant.  And later, we’d, reached consensus, and my young girl’s father took her to apologize, and promised that he’ll, communicate how biting was wrong to his own young.

Later on, we’d bought the illustrated books, “Your Teeth aren’t Used for Biting Another Person” to teach, and in the same series, there were also the titles of, “Your Hands, Not Made for Hitting”, and “Your Feet, Not for Kicking Someone”, it’s a hard road we’re on, educating our own young, and we shouldn’t take it lightly either.

And, depending on the age, biting, is a part of normal development, and, a preschool age who continued to use her/his teeth to “communicate” with the outside world around her/him, may not have had enough oral stimulation in her/his own oral stages of development, that’s what causes her/him, to bite excessively, or, maybe, it’s because the child is upset, and s/he couldn’t find the right words to verbalize (as a kid that young doesn’t have a rich enough vocabulary bank yet!), that’s why this kid is, using BITING, to show her upset, and, the parents MUST find out what causes her/his own young to want to bite the classmates, to resolve this completely, and, don’t think, that oh, my son/daughter will, grow out of it, because it’s this sort of a, “I’ll just let time pass and see what happens” attitude, that will get you, SUED, because your child’s still a “minor”, and, whatever your kid did wrong or bad, it’s, on Y-O-U!

Can We Punish the Parents When the Children Behaved Badly?

By the professor of neurosciences here, on the functions of the families individually, and how the families affects the children in educating them, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

A few of my master students who’d graduated came back to school for a visit with me, told me that they wanted to host a thank-you banquet for me, because back in June, the epidemic just got started, and they couldn’t, return back to school then, and the classes, dissembled on their own, and now, the epidemic seemed to have slowed down, they wanted to gather, and they’d wanted to tell me, how they put what they learned in my courses to good use after their graduation.  As I’d heard, I’d, gladly gone to the meal, because as a professor, I’d cared of nothing more than the effects of my education on my students.

That day, a student told me, “Professor, had I not taken your course on brain and emotions, I wouldn’t have realized that ‘you are in control of your own emotions, nobody can make you feel unhappy, you’re the one, making yourself, unhappy.”, I would’ve gotten too angered too like that teacher on the news, tipping the desks over too.”

He’d continued, the parents are spoiling their young rotten, they don’t believe that it’s a big deal if the children plagiarize, skip school, or play their cell phone games in class, eating the snacks, sleeping during class is wrong, he got angered that he couldn’t, teach anymore.  The character education wase not instilled in the families first, the teachers are “lone armies of one”, and couldn’t exert any power, he’d read on the papers, that China is implementing the punishment of the parents for not educating their young well enough at home, he’d hoped that Taiwan could, do the same too.

But, no way that was, happening, so he can only adjust his own mindset, took the time he was angry, to get to know the backgrounds of these students who are making him upset, and that was when he’d realized, that these students who’d been, full on their disciplinary records, were only, looking for, extra attention, they needed the attention, needed the affirmations……………They fitted in to the classics of “learned helplessness”, are the children the schools, and the parents had, given up, on.

He’d remembered me telling the class, that exercise will kick up the production of dopamine in the brain, to elevate the moods, he’d thought, writing his students up will only make the students give up on themselves, because for a student with the sense of shame, getting a written up is a stain on his record; but for a student without any mind to care, it wouldn’t have an inkling of an effect, it wouldn’t make any difference to her/him.  Then, as a punishment, he’d made the student go and clean up the local communities.  And, as the environment became cleaner, the student gained the sense of achievement from the commends of the residents of the local community, and it’d boosted the student’s self-confidence, and self-confidence brings about that sense of self-respect, and that particular student no longer acted up in his classes, and he’d not needed to tell him to “BE QUIET!” every three minutes.

Another student told me, he’d found, that what helped him the most, was what I’d told the class out of the blue.  Turns out one day, I’d told the classes, that everybody has two persona, one in front of others, the other, when we’re, alone, that the best way to observe someone, is when the individual is living from day to day.  Back then, this student was into a female lecturer, in the school where he’d taught, but his families liked the woman at the matchmaking.  Last month, the school sent him and this particular instructor he’d liked to visit someone who’d fallen ill.  He’d told, that as this female instructor saw how the place was messy, she’d, immediately, rolled up her sleeves, gone into the kitchen, and started clearing up the bathrooms and the kitchen areas, and before they’d left, she’d told the elderly janitor thank you, for giving her chance to do something good for him for the day.  My student was very moved then, felt that this female instructor carried the “virtues of being a good wife”, that she was fitting to become the mother of his own young; and decided to drop the matchmaking call that his families had made for him, and marry this female instructor from his school.

I was moved by his “fitting to be the mother of my children”, if every couple can consider closely, their qualifications of becoming parents, then, why would we need the country to set up the laws to punish those, unfitting, parents?

The families, the schools, and the society, are three pillars that make up a country, any one missing won’t do, and it’s a domino effect, one falls, the rest falls with it.  Currently, Taiwan is in a awkward position in that game of tug-of-war between China and the U.S., rather than sucking up, why not, work hard, to earn back that lost respect.  We were once, the head of the four dragons of Asia a long time, ago, why are we, moving, backwards, to the, bottom, of that list?

“Brothers shared the same hearts, no need to get the inheritance from their parents”, with the parents acting right, the schools doing their jobs, teaching the students the right morale, the government officials taking the responsibilities………………, you can count on only you, and nobody else!

And so, this showed, how important, the education in the family is, because the family IS the most basic, functional unit of a society, and, if all these families that makes up the society started, falling off left and right, how can you expect the country to be great?  So, this is on how education should still starts, with the family first, education in the families is, way, way, WAY more important than anything we will learn from school, unfortunately, the families are, mal-functioning all over the places, and, these days, if you don’t have the ability to educate yourselves, then, society gets, totally, SCREWED, and that’s, why the world is, currently, this big a mess, because families are, not functioning properly, and, children these days, well, they lacked the abilities to, educate themselves, after all they grow up, without the proper, role models when they were young.

On the Longings, in Our, Hearts

Interactions of a father and daughter, on things that come into their lives, every single day, translated…

During the outbreak in the summer, my third-grade daughter and I are together 24/7 at home, and I’d had to, play the part of her teacher then, taught her the very first class.  I’d, selected the book, “The Alchemist” by Paul Coelho, after I had her read, I’d asked her to think about the following: explain why the youth felt that “he’d learned more from the herd of sheep than he had in reading the books?” why is it that “in the key moments in life, we couldn’t do anything about our lives, only let destiny take over, this was, the biggest, lie”, along with, “When you truly want something really bad, the entire universe will work in your favor, and help you accomplish it?”

As she’d read that very first chapter, the first question she’d replied, “errr………I………dunno!”, I’d encouraged her, that it’s okay that she didn’t know the answers yet, had her gone back through the pages, to reread the passages, to think, to come up with an answer if she could?  After deep thought, she’d still, fallen, silent.

And so, I’d, switched into the mentor mode, spiritual guide, asked her, what she took from her interactions with everything she encounters in life, the cats, the dogs, the trees, the flowers, the birds, the bees.  In the end, I’d asked her, “What, can we learn, from the flocks of sheep?”

She’d fallen, more and more, silent as she’d heard me explained, and I’d felt a bit, helpless, halted the lesson, and, with a bad look coming over my face, asked her to think.  She’d run into her room, put her head down on her desk, and thought, and, it’d, taken her, over an hour, no words, no naughty behaviors, I’d become, a bit, panicky then, and that was when I realized, that compared to whether or not she could come up with the right answers to my questions, I’d, cared more about whether or not she’s, happy.  I’d entered into her room, inquired, “What’s wrong?  If you can’t think of it, take a break!  You want to watch some T.V.?  or, go out for a ride?”

She’d remained, silent still.  Did I, push her too hard, after all, she’s, only, nine, to think on things, she couldn’t, yet relate to?  suddenly, I’d become, that panicky, mothering roll, the father who’d, carried that apologetic heart, to dress her up or maybe, that was, her way, of telling me, “WHAT, is it, that you long for?”

Nothing but for my girl to be, happy!  Until my daughter told me, “I’m fine”, then, started, misbehaving again, and the world finally, came back to, normal…………………………

And so, this, is how this father and daughter interacted, the father and daughter were all that each other had, for whatever reasons, and, the daughter is the father’s world, and so, the father cares a whole lot about whether or not his baby girl is happy, is well, and, posing that question to his child, he’d, stumped her a bit, and, she just, needed time, to sort everything through herself, and after that, everything’s, back to normal.

An Expensive Child

The upbringing of the child, how do we, train our kids, what goals do we want our kids to attain in school, to excel, to become, one of the, elites, placing them in private schools, or, do we, want them to, encounter, people who are like, and unlike themselves, so they can, gain a wider perspective of, the world, to learn that there are, others who are, different than them?  Points to consider, when selecting what sort of schools to place your children in, private, public, etc., etc., etc., translated…

I’d seen on T.V. that there were Chinese rich parents who’d, thrown down wads of cash to celebrate their children’s birthdays, turning the girls into, princesses, the boys, into, princes, with the parents, dressed up to the nines, surprising all the guests who were, invited.  From before, I’d seen on the news, that a seven-year-old Filipino girl, dressed in that custom-made present, with a crown on her head, with the full-service banquets, and fireworks on display.

There are friends in my circle, who, for the sake of their children’s, “only childhoods”, wrecked their brains on the celebration means every year, put on that large party for them.  Other than inviting the kids’ friends, also, showed everybody else, how they’d, cherished, the only childhoods of their own, young.

Actually, every moment of life is the only, childhood is deemed as innocent, naïve, and only happens once, but, when did these, childhood birthday parties came into being in Taiwan?

I was just past forty, recalled how there was the McDonald’s commercials on T.V.  Back then, the shop was up to rent, and the character will bring tons of presents to the child, with the burgers, fries, the cokes, the happy meals.

illustration from UDN.com

That was in the eighties, a lot of the parents had, weathered through the poverties of post-war, and, as the U.S. gave the aids, the economy started, looking, up.  The government encouraged selling the items internationally, and, gave us the newer concepts of childrearing too.  The older generations will never host these grand celebrations for their kids on their birthdays, but the American ways believed, that we need to, toss down a whole lot of money on the kids, not expecting, nor demanding anything in return, and this concept had, rooted, downward in us.

And yet, based off of the economics sociologist, Zelizer, “Pricing the Priceless Child”, we can find, that the children now are seen, as, “little angels” and viewed as, “idols” in their existence, naïve, with complete dependence, this is, unique to modern day society only.

From a study of a sample of thirty families in Los Angeles, no single child would take responsibilities on her/his own for the family’s chores.  Normally, the parents had to plead, and ask (and usually failed at), but in the end, the parents can only, start doing all these chores like the maids do.  Modern day society, like the anthropologist, Tam Ramsay stated, “infants rule”, the children didn’t have any freedom, but they could, get whatever they wanted, they asked, of their, parents, without, any of the, related responsibilities.

In “Anthropology of Childhood” there are massive amounts of data collected which showed that we are now, living in a world where, “Children ranked supreme”, believing in their innocence, encouraging the younger generations to express themselves, and, do our bests, to, satisfy all their needs and wants, and this reflected on the collective society’s ideals of the natures of innocence of young children.  And besides, this society became, the projections of individual families’ tastes and value systems, becoming, a duplicate of the caste systems, and makes the gaps between the varied levels of socioeconomic statuses hard to understand one another, with the difficulties of, communicating with each other.

My son is in the first-grade now, I’d originally wanted to send him to private school, but thinking back to my own younger years, being enrolled in the nearby public elementary schools, he will get a chance to encounter children from various socioeconomic statuses, various backgrounds too, that was, what I believe to be, “normal” experiences for a child, to help him adapt and live along with people of an assortment of, backgrounds, to understand each of his classmates’ personality traits, likes, and dislikes, instead of getting to know his classmates, by how much money their families have.

And so, this, is on the socialization of the child, do we want our kids to be elites, is that why we’re, placing them in those, high-end, higher-quality, private schools from preschool on up, by making sure, that they excelled in the academia, or, do we want them to, get interactive, with, an assortments of, various children from the varied backgrounds, from blue collar families, to white collar families, that, is the question to be, considered here.

Wanting to Have More of a Long-Term Effect of Foreign Language, a Taiwanese Learning Method Should Be Established

At a loss for words, is what this, policy of foreign language instruction will turn the children of today into tomorrow…not thinking it through, the government here!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Tsai government called out, that we will be a dual-language country by 2030, and the executive yuan will set forth ten billion N.T. in budget in making this happen all the way to 2024, from the newly implementation of dual-language instructor in the school semester that started in September this year.  But the scholars analyzed, there’s little to no drive for the country’s own instructors to get trained as foreign language instructors, while the Department of Education is throwing huge sums of money down, hiring the foreign born teachers to teach.  But, the learning environment is different compared to that of U.S. and European nations, that the “Taiwanese mode” should get set up, for the program to have a longer lasting effect.

introducing children to the various cultures…photo from online

The common point of the dual-language education that the country set up is by hiring of foreign-born instructors to teach in the schools, starting this semester, the middle and elementary schools gets a total of 300 foreign instructors; with the added fifty classes of experimental education in dual-language per school, with a foreign instructor hired per class; while the community college levels, they’d selected a standard school, to get the foreign-born individuals to join the teaching staff.

The assistant dean of student affairs of N.T.U., professor of Education Department, Lin worked in the dual-language focus schools in Singapore before reminded, that the environment of learning here is different compared to that of Singapore, U.S., and Europe, that there should be a unique method to start off the education of English, that the country should NOT rely solely on the foreign born instructors, and, blindly, transplanting the experiences of Europe and U.S., otherwise, the programs would be, short-lived.

And this, is only, one of the, tiniest, “adverse” effects of globalization that’s found here in this country, the department of education finally realized, just how important for us to get onboard the “international train”, which is why they’re, now, implementing these policies of foreign instructors, without knowing and/or noting, that you HAVE to teach the children ONE language, and for the children to learn their mother tongues well enough FIRST, then you can, instruct them in a second language, while they’re implementing the foreign language instructions in the lower levels of elementary years, when the children hadn’t even mastered Chinese yet, uh yeah, that’ll, totally, BACKFIRE all right!

Reading to Children from Birth to Six, Helping Them Get the Abilities of Reading

Once more, reiterating, the importance, or reading with your own young children!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The critical period of development from birth to six, but, how do we get these kids running around like crazy, to sit down and read?  The head librarian of the National Library, Tseng, and the owner of the experimental kindergarten, Chen suggested, that the parents should select the easier to understand illustrated books, and allow the child to set up her/his own bookshelves, a corner for reading, even, including reading in the child’s day to day activities, all of these, can help the child gain the reading abilities that s/he will need.

starting children of from this…

the act of reading to children is more important than if they can understand the contents of the stories you read! Photo from online

Chen said, that a lot of parents worried that they might not be good enough storytellers, but, in the parent-child reading time together, there’s no need to teach the children anything from the reading materials, the most important is enjoying the time they spend together with each other.

Tseng told, that the point of reading together is not the reading, but to increase the intimate relations of parents and children, other than reading, the parents can turn the reading materials to life, like for instance, when reading the book, “Colors’, the parents can take the children to draw with the markers, or take a fitting book, and go to the parks with the children.

Tseng advised, that allowing the children to have their own bookshelves for their readers, that they can easily access.  A lot of the activities of reading can occur in this specific location of the home, as the parents are busying about, if the kids want to read, then, it would be more of a habit, that the children sit themselves down at this particular corner to read.  Chen said, having books inside a small basket will work just as well, place a few books into the baskets, to help the children access them more easily.

so as they’re older, they will be doing this on their own…

the self-initiated reading process…photo from online

Tseng told, that there are the developmental considerations for children reading at different ages, for one and two year old, the reading should be interactive, select the books that are precise, and not with so many words, that are, illustrated, for two three year olds, engage the children into specific topic related reading, the parents can head to the website of the national libraries or the local library branches to the catalogs, to see the preferred, recommended reading materials list.  Chen said, the parents should read the books first, before they borrow them or buy them for their young, for the younger children, the illustrations are important, it can help the children understand the stories’ contents, and, quality should be the focus of reading, not the quantity.

And so, it’s not that important, WHAT you read to your own young children, they just need you to take the time to spend with them, after all, if you don’t help your children establish that love of reading when they’re younger, chances are, they won’t be interested in reading as they grow up, because, everything is still, set up at a younger age in life.