When children are on summer vacation, parents are filled with anxiety.

"Imprisoning children" when there are no other options.

From early morning, the rented room of Mr. Le Van Cong (born in 1989) in Yen Xa hamlet, Hung Dong commune (Vinh city) was empty of adults. Only 11-year-old Le Anh D. was inside, intently watching her phone, which her mother had connected to the internet. She was on summer vacation, her extra classes hadn't started yet, and her parents were at work, so her only way to pass the time was with her phone.

After the summer break, 11-year-old Le Anh D. has to stay home alone while her parents are at work. Photo: TQ

Mr. Le Van Cong said that his wife is a worker at Great Longview Company (VSIP Industrial Park), and he himself is a long-distance truck driver, so he hardly has any days off. They have two children, the eldest is 11 years old and the youngest is almost 4. After the children's summer vacation, they have to send the youngest to live with his grandparents. Because they feel sorry for the grandparents' frail health, they can only afford to send one child to their care. The eldest stays at their rented room and is cared for by himself while his parents are at work.

"I know leaving my child home alone isn't always safe, but honestly, I don't have the money to hire a babysitter; both sets of grandparents live far away. My wife and I have warned our child about potential dangers, but we're still incredibly worried. During my breaks and lunchtimes, I call and video call to check on my child," Mr. Cong confided.

The row of rented rooms was deserted after the workers had gone to work, with only two rooms occupied by children who were left to look after themselves before their parents returned. Photo: TQ

In the next room, two young children, about 4 or 5 years old, were also home alone watching TV. When asked where their parents were, the landlady said that their father was working far away and their mother was a freelance worker. During the summer holidays, there was no one to look after them, so their mother had to leave them in the room to look after themselves whenever she went out. Occasionally, she would ask the landlady to keep an eye on them for a short while when she passed by.

Observations show that the boarding houses in Yen Xa hamlet are built with small areas and moderate rental prices, targeting workers and laborers employed in the VSIP industrial park. With limited financial resources, these workers have only two options: send their children back to their hometowns or leave them to look after at home. The children mainly entertain themselves by watching TV and using phones, facing many potential dangers, but due to their difficult circumstances, the workers have no other choice.

The two children have to look after each other whenever their mother is busy and goes out. Photo: TQ

Not only factory workers but also many laborers in other professions are facing difficulties when their children are on summer vacation. Specifically, Ms. Hoang Thi Suong (born in 1957) in Nam Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, said that during the summer break, she had to look after five grandchildren by herself. The oldest is only 10 years old, and the youngest is 4. Her sons and daughters-in-law are either civil servants or self-employed, and due to their work schedules, they all have to go to work early in the morning, leaving the children at home. Sometimes, when she is unwell and needs to go to the district hospital for check-ups, she has to leave the children to manage on their own at home, with the older children looking after the younger ones until their parents finish work.

Struggling to find childcare.

In a small alley off Dang Thai Mai Street (Vinh City), the family of Ms. Le Thi Ung (born in 1962) is a trusted address that many workers and laborers in the surrounding area choose to send their children to during the summer holidays.

Ms. Ung shared that she and her husband are retired, and with their daughter-in-law helping out, their family usually takes care of 3 to 4 children for local workers and laborers. However, demand increases significantly during the summer. Despite explaining that they can only look after a maximum of 4 children, many workers in the area, facing difficult circumstances, plead to be allowed to leave their children with them so they can get to work on time. Unable to refuse, she had to take on 2 more children and encourage family members to help care for them. However, this number is still far too small compared to the actual demand. Many poor working couples face significant difficulties in finding childcare during the summer.

Many workers and laborers struggle to find childcare during the summer holidays. Photo: TQ

Struggling to find childcare, Ms. Vi Thi Xuan, a worker at the Bac Vinh Industrial Park, shared: “My husband and I came here from Ky Son to work as factory workers and brought our two young children with us to make it easier to care for them and to allow them to study in the city. Our eldest child is in second grade, and now that it's summer break, there's no one to look after them. Meanwhile, there are too few kindergens around the industrial park to meet the needs of the workers, so finding private childcare is a pressing need.”

It's not just young children who are worried; teenagers are also a cause for concern due to excessive use of electronic devices during summer vacation. To address this worry, many parents have recently been enrolling their children in extracurricular classes such as martial arts, swimming, dance, drawing, and music.

Mr. Duong Van Tien (Cua Nam Ward, Vinh City) said that his daughter, born in 2016, is currently studying at Cua Nam 2 Primary School. After the summer break, the family looked into enrolling her in an MC class with two purposes: firstly, to prevent her from overusing phones and television during the holidays; and secondly, to help her develop her talent.

Parents inquire about and register their children for MC classes at the Vietnam-Germany Children's Cultural Center. Photo: TQ

As for Ms. Le Thi Hien (born in 1987) in Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city, she said that because she didn't have the means to supervise her child during the summer, she enrolled her child in drawing classes to ensure that her child would be relaxed psychologically and she would also have the opportunity to take care of her 3-year-old child at home.

According to our findings, during the summer class enrollment period from May 10th to the present, the Vietnam-Germany Children's Cultural Center has received nearly 600 registrations from parents for their children to study there. Among these, drawing, MC training, and dance classes were the most popular.

At the Provincial Labor Cultural Center, swimming classes, table tennis training, badminton, martial arts training, and other activities are also becoming popular as many children register to participate.

According to the "Union Member Welfare" program, children of workers attending classes at the two cultural centers will receive a 15-20% discount on tuition fees. This is one of the efforts of trade unions at all levels to support the spiritual and material lives of workers and laborers in the province.