How to let our kids enjoy their childhood

Recently many parents have written to the new education minister complaining that primary schools are too stressful for children, and that kids cannot have a happy childhood under the current system.

I remember that when I was in primary one, we started by learning A, B, C. Now kids are expected to know how to read very well in English before they enter P1 : What to expect in primary one

Honestly, I do not believe that anything will be done to change our education system.

However, I believe that our kids can still enjoy their childhood and at the same time do well in our education system.

I have 2 children, my boy is in P1, and my girl is in P2, both are studying in a neighbourhood primary school. We actually do not feel stressful under the current system. My kids still have quite a lot of time to play every day, after completing their homework. I do not need to make them spend many hours doing assessment books every day. They do not have any tuition or enrichment classes. I am happy with their results in school.

The most important factor that allows my kids to enjoy their childhood is this: they were taught to read well in English by the time they turned five. They can read and understand long English novels like Charlotte's Web before the age of 7. Thanks to effective methods, I only spend fewer than 30 minutes a day teaching them, starting when they're 4 years old. They spend most of their time playing freely.

Both my kids can also read long Chinese novels confidently by P1 :

Reading long Chinese novels by 7 years old

Now in primary school, they only need to spend very little time learning English and Chinese. My kids already know how to spell the words in their spelling list without the need to practise writing them, thanks to their good foundation in phonics. They spend fewer than 15 minutes every day writing the Chinese words for their Ting Xie. They spend more time learning Maths, but I mostly ask them to do Maths assessments only during weekends.

I believe that we can make education very enjoyable for children, and it all depends on the parents, not the teachers in schools. Parents have to understand what is the most effective method to teach children. Between the ages of 3 to 6, instead of forcing kids to do tons of assessment books or practice writing many words eveyday, we should focus on teaching kids to read independently, in both English and Chinese. This can be easily done without sacrificing their childhood.

Quote from an expert:

The 'acquisition of a normal language,' he writes, 'is guaranteed for children up to the age of six, is steadily compromised from then until shortly after puberty, and is rare thereafter'.

When kids are able to read confidently, learning becomes very easy for them.

In fact, my boy has shown me that learning can be very fun and enjoyable. With the ability to read independently since 5 years old, he can spend a few hours a day reading Children's Encyclopedia like these :

He also borrows non-fiction books from his school library :

My boy is of average ability, his attention span used to be less than 5 minutes when he was about 4 years old, and he required more than 20 repetitions in order to remember new words. Now he regularly amazes me by telling me many facts from the books. He learns all these knowledge because of his own interest and initiatives, all I have done is to leave many books around for him. I have never forced him to read Children's Encylopedia. He likes to talk about what he has learned from the books to me, and he is always so enthusiastic. This shows that learning can be very interesting for kids, so long as we do not confine their learning to only school textbooks and assessment books.

I know that my boy's general knowledge is probably not going to translate into perfect grades in school, because what he likes to learn is outside of the MOE syllabus. However, I am willing to continue to nurture his love for acquiring knowledge, instead of making him do many assessment books in order to get perfect grades.

Besides the ability to read, the development of fine motor skills is the next most important skill which is essential for good handwriting.

Instead of making my kids practise writing everyday before 6 years old, I let them play with toys like Lego, ZOOB, K'NEX, LAQ, etc. All these construction toys are excellent for developing fine motor skills and creativity. These toys also train my boy to focus for longer periods of time, and improve his problem solving skills.

Here is a model of a fruit juice blender built by my boy using K'NEX. He learned about how gears work.


My boy also enjoys playing with LAQ :

My boy also likes Origami, another excellent hobby for developing fine motor skills and improving attention span.

His handwriting used to be quite bad when he was 4 to 5 years old, now that he is in P1, his handwriting is quite neat. I did not have to make him practice writing everyday, instead, he spends lots of time playing with the above toys on his own.

My older girl enjoys beading, playing with air-dry clay, sewing, and paper crafts. We used to let her pick up small red beans when she was about 18 months old. She has been writing her own stories since before she turned 5 years old.

Unlike other kids who spend most of their childhood attending enrichment classes and doing assessment books, my kids will remember that they spent most of their childhood playing with toys and reading books that they love.

Finally, if we want our children to really enjoy their childhood, parents must learn to manage their expectations. We should not punish our kids if they do not do well academically, instead, we should always praise and reward our kids for their efforts.