A 9-year-old girl wrote a letter applying for a job at a crab noodle shop on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, to wipe tables, open the door for customers, and serve food every Sunday.
Mr. Hung, the service director of a car company in Quang Ninh, believes that educating children should be done through practical daily tasks, so that children can learn about the spirit of work and become independent early, acquiring more life skills.
"Back when I was my son's age, I walked to school every day, and during school breaks I went to the market for my mother, cooked meals, and cleaned the house... Kids these days are too spoiled; they have someone to pick them up and drop them off at school, and when they get home they just eat, do homework, watch TV. Some kids don't even know where the broom is, let alone sweep the house," Mr. Hung explained the reason for his son's early summer "job search."
Instead of forcing his son to work or doing strenuous tasks, Mr. Hung discussed his son's duties with the company beforehand. He also took the time to talk to his son like two men before he officially "started working." He explained the reasons and goals of working during the summer, the company's regulations, and offered a small reward after his son completed his two-month summer assignment, just before the start of the new school year.
"My son is very happy to go to work with his dad. Every morning, the two of us get in the car and chat about all sorts of things on the way to work. At the company, he's very serious; the ladies in the kitchen guide him through tasks like picking vegetables, washing rice, wiping dishes, sweeping the floor... After a week, the work is going very smoothly. At lunchtime, he sits and eats his meal like everyone else at the company and takes a good nap on the bunk bed. In the evening, the two of us go home, and he chatters excitedly about what happened in the kitchen that day and what new things he learned," Mr. Hung recounted.
Summer had gradually passed by a few weeks. After several weeks of "working" alongside his father, the son no longer sat still after meals with the family. The 9-year-old boy now knew how to stand up and set the table and chairs for his mother, sweep the house for his grandmother, and after school, he knew how to organize his books, desk, and tidy his own room.
But that's not all that Mr. Hung felt his son had grown up a little. "The most touching thing was when he was confiding in his grandmother. He said, 'Grandma, the women in the kitchen work very hard, but once I saw some of the workers complaining that the food wasn't good. I feel sorry for the kitchen staff…'"
Third-grade students at Nguyen Thai Son Primary School, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, learn how to make ice cream during their life skills class.
"Finding jobs" for their children during summer vacation is not an uncommon practice among modern parents in raising their children. Recently, Thanh Nien Newspaper published a story about a mother who suggested her 9-year-old daughter write a job application letter to the owner of a crab noodle shop on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City. Both the mother and the shop owner agreed, hoping that through tasks like wiping tables, opening doors for customers, and serving food and drinks, the girl would learn the value of hard work, appreciate the difficulties faced by those who earn money.
"Going to work" here does not necessarily mean forcing children into hard labor or exploiting their adolescent labor. It is a way for children – with the permission, supervision, and assistance of adults – to participate in age- and physical activities, thereby gaining knowledge and life skills.
Life skills education has become an integral part of school life in recent years. In many places, from preschool onwards, children participate in activities like baking and making lemonade. As they get older, they learn to make ice cream, mix salads, and use kitchen utensils safely. As a principal of a primary school in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, put it, life skills education doesn't necessarily involve grand gestures; at the very least, it should enable a third or fourth-grade student to safely cook a bowl of noodles, fry an egg, or safely operate a rice cooker to eat a satisfying meal while their parents are still busy and haven't returned home.
And it's not enough for children to learn life skills at school alone. During the more than two months of summer, while many parents are busy "job hunting" for their children, students are also learning life skills at home, with the best teachers being their parents, grandparents, and other relatives around them…
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