I still vividly remember the days when I was a child living in the apartment complex, excitedly preparing with my friends for a vacation with our parents' workplaces. It was one of two occasions a year (along with the Mid-Autumn Festival) when the children in the apartment complex were the main characters in a sweet treat party held in the courtyard of the complex's kindergarten. After the gathering, the children would go home early to prepare to gather again in the kindergarten courtyard the next morning and board the bus to Cua Lo. For many children in the complex, it was their only trip of the year, even though the beach was only about 15 kilometers from Vinh City. On the moonlit road, we chatted animatedly. Some even regretted that there was only one summer a year. If only there were four summers, we could have four trips to the beach…
During summer vacation in many cities, the most common sight is crowded playgrounds and KFC restaurants. Many parents understand the meaning of "summer vacation" but shrug it off, thinking, "Why go far away in the scorching sun and expensive? Just go wherever the child likes, just for a little while 'to get a taste'." And most modern children spend their summer vacations enjoying the aroma of KFC and the cool atmosphere of movie theaters, but these experiences likely leave no lasting impression as they grow older.
Some parents in the city, like some of my old friends from the Trung Do apartment complex, still excitedly reminisce about their old beach trips and always plan an exciting vacation for their children on this occasion. It's a chance for the children to choose their own exciting journey.
My father was a farmer in the city, spending his days driving a rickshaw loaded with honeycomb coal. Every summer weekend, he would ask his children, "Where are we going today?" It didn't have to be anything fancy; we'd all clean the rickshaw thoroughly, spread out a small mat, and leisurely ride to the outskirts of the city to admire the lotus flowers and rice fields. After wandering around for a while, we'd stop at a pastry shop near the Vinh Citadel gate or at Mrs. Lien's yogurt and cake shop near our house for a hearty meal as dusk fell. My father always smiled brightly when paying – with small coins stained with coal dust. As we grew older, even the neighborhood children got to share in the joy of that special day on the rickshaw. For the children, the trips weren't about distance or wealth, but about the joy of being treated and the scenery that lingered in their minds. There isn't much to see, but a child from the countryside wants to go to the city, a child from the city wants to go back to the countryside, to the suburbs. Changing one's perspective through the eyes of a child is also a great joy.
My friend, a doctor busy with surgeries year-round, never misses a few days of summer vacation dedicated solely to his work: being with his child. Their most frequent "summer trip" is cycling together to the riverbank to enjoy the breeze and watch the sunset, then cycling back home. A blooming flame tree by the roadside, a few adorable dogs and cats they happen to encounter… all add to the lively atmosphere of their journey. The route is the same every day, but it never loses its charm because both father and child understand that simply having time together is precious. My friend says that every adult was once a child. Perhaps that's why children need to be shared with, loved, and cherished by adults, because they help us reflect on our own childhoods.
"Children are like buds on a branch" – They are simply tender buds in life, but each child is a miniature world within itself, full of fascinating things. And only when you explore the world of children with a feeling of affection, closeness, and trust will you receive even more genuine affection in return.
Where will I go this summer?
