Who is depriving children of playtime?

Although there are no official survey data, there are increasing signs that Vietnamese children are spending less and less time playing. Too much studying and too little playing time have resulted in many heartbreaking incidents.

Learning machines

In big cities, it is not uncommon to see “learning machines”: wake up at 5am, go to school at 6am, parents pick them up at 5pm, go to extra classes at 7pm until 9pm, come home late at night. There is no more playtime! Add to the heavy school curriculum, the fiercely competitive environment for grades, and children will be increasingly burdened by the pressure.

It is not uncommon to see students having to eat and drink on the way to school.

This situation is increasingly confirmed by experts, even foreign experts. At a conference in Ho Chi Minh City last year, Dr. Jonathan Halévy, a pediatrician at Family Medicine Practice Hospital, said that Vietnamese children are overworked by a tight study schedule.

“Vietnamese parents are very dedicated and want their children to have the best education. Many teenagers take extra lessons in math, English… after school. Then they go home to have a quick dinner and do their homework. By the time they go to bed it is almost midnight (or even past midnight).

Some schools in Vietnam operate in shifts and classes start very early, meaning children have to wake up at 5am to get to school on time. That leaves the child with very little time to rest,” said Mr Jonathan.

Children are being deprived of playtime by academic pressure.

Warnings are still being issued. But only recently, thousands of parents were startled by a true story: a 9th grade male student jumped to his death due to pressure from studying and grades. Having low grades while previously always having high expectations, and being in a school with great competition, this male student could not overcome the disappointment, suffered from severe depression and chose an extreme outcome...

Give playtime back to kids

When the heartbreaking story above happened, many parents started to panic and “question” themselves. Many parents wrote on their personal Facebook that they would no longer force their children to study, and would no longer care about their children’s grades as much as before.

But that is not the root solution to relieve pressure on children when the education system is still considered too heavy. According to many experts, letting children experience more playtime is the way to help children balance and relieve pressure.

Psychologist Dinh Phuong Duy, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Psychology and Education, said he had witnessed many cases where in the afternoon parents took their children to extra classes, while they were walking, they ate a sandwich, and when they came home in the evening, the children were exhausted and still had to continue doing homework.

According to him, in terms of common psychological principles, human activities, living, playing, resting, etc. must be in accordance with each person’s biological rhythm. If children study too much, they will not have enough time to balance their mental life, leading to them being overloaded with studying.

A student quickly ate before going to extra class.

“Many city children grow up with an incomplete childhood, only studying and studying without experiencing interesting interactive games with friends... In terms of spirit, children's souls will have little emotion towards the world around them, leading to emotional poverty. A person with little emotion will behave very rigidly towards the world, not easily adapt to changes in life, and easily close themselves off from society.

That also leads to more serious consequences such as children will not have friends to play with, growing up will be like "fighting cocks", only knowing how to study but not having life skills, social skills. From here, children easily fall into traps, do not have the mental resistance to overcome failures", Dr. Dinh Phuong Duy said.

According to Dantri