The 'maze' of parenting books market

(Baonghean) -In recent years, the concept of early education has become known to many Vietnamese mothers and has been quickly applied to the practice of raising children.

It can be said that the early education movement has never developed as strongly as it does today. On the Internet, closed groups, open groups, clubs... are flourishing, gathering fathers and mothers to guide each other on the path of early education for their children.

The press writes a lot about the examples of mothers who have succeeded in educating their children to be intelligent before their time; then introduces the methods of raising children in the Jewish, Japanese, Chinese styles... In real life, seminars, offline, mini shows... sharing about early education methods, ways to raise smart children are continuously organized, not only in big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City but also gradually spreading to many other localities in the country.

Along with that, the fields that "follow" the early education movement are also increasingly developing: printing flash cards, smart toys, CDs... A series of educational companies have opened courses, selling tools and learning materials at high prices to teach parents how to exploit their children's potential.

Following the early education movement, publishers have also launched a series of child-rearing books to serve the tastes of fathers and mothers. Surveying around bookstores, it is not difficult to see that the areas for child-rearing books and life skills books for children are prioritized and placed in eye-catching positions.

“Chaos” in the market for parenting books. Photo: Internet

The most sought-after early education books include the 5-book series by two authors Glenn Doman and Janet Doman, including “Teaching Children to Be Smart Early”, “Teaching Children to Read Early”, “Teaching Children to Learn Math”, “Enhancing Children’s Intelligence”, “Teaching Children About the World Around Them”; the 3-book series “Teaching Children the Japanese Way” for ages 0, 1, 2… Parenting books are often of good print quality, beautiful in appearance, and are not cheap compared to many other educational books.

However, eye-catching form cannot determine the content. It is a fact that in addition to Kim Dong Publishing House, Phu Nu Publishing House… which are considered to be serious in publishing books for mothers and children, many places are also competing to publish books on child-rearing. Among them, many books are copies of the style of “this man’s beard and that woman’s chin”, to avoid copyright infringement.

Many parents are "dizzy" by hundreds of books, all with similar titles, with promises about the best and smartest way to raise children...

In order to have books on the market, many places accept authors who are not experts in psychology, medicine, education, etc. to write, or even copy articles from newspapers and magazines about those specialized fields. The royalties paid for this type of book collection are sometimes as high as those for books written by the author himself. Simply because publishers do not have to pay royalties, which are often quite expensive, for best-selling parenting books abroad.

In addition to bookstores and book companies racing to follow the trend of parenting books, many authors and speakers have published books about their own content, which sell very well at conferences organized by companies or by themselves. The most noteworthy thing is that the information printed in the books is not proofread by experts.

In particular, there is a speaker who claims to be a master of economics who graduated abroad, but because he loves children and is “impatient” with preschool education, he self-studied parenting methods to write books. This speaker’s books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies, sharing parenting methods that sound great but are actually completely copied. The speaker herself claims to be a woman in her 40s, without a husband or children!

Master of Psychology Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen indignantly shared that Vietnam has never had as many experts and speakers on psychology as it does today. They don't see or know where their degrees are, and no one has verified them. The most dangerous thing is that there are people who speak, publish books, and sell books everywhere with the titles of "experts" and "speakers", which is extremely dangerous when it causes misunderstandings for many parents with young children.

It is necessary to be alert to understand that, in order to deal with the headaches on the journey of raising children to adulthood, every father and mother should learn, but education is not copying, stereotyping but must be flexible. Each child is an independent, special individual, each living environment and living conditions are different, so it is impossible to "copy exactly" the parenting methods from developed countries into practice in Vietnam. According to Master of Psychology Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, there needs to be selection and understanding of each child education method.

For example, Vietnamese fathers and mothers can learn from Japanese mothers how to “love” their children, which is to absolutely not spoil them, and teach them skills in many other ways; learn from Jewish mothers how to teach their children to be trustworthy, to share, and to manage money; learn from American mothers who confidently educate their children to become optimistic, brave, and independent in life with their own unique concepts; learn from German mothers how to teach their children to be disciplined, resilient, independent, and thrifty.

In the “maze” of parenting books, the most important thing for parents is not to follow trends, choose books from reputable publishers, reputable authors, and clear origins. Don’t waste time on useless books!

Nguyen Thao - Phuoc Anh