Summer is here - the difficult problem of what and where to let children play?

Summer vacation is probably the most anticipated time for children. However, in reality, from rural to urban areas, finding a safe and useful playground for children is difficult. Therefore, every summer, many parents have a headache with the question of what to let their children play and where to play?

In summer, the children of Cun Pheo commune, Mai Chau district enjoy bathing in the stream, but without adult supervision.

Entering the summer vacation, Ms. Thu Ha, Huu Nghi Ward, Hoa Binh City decided to let her son participate in a military semester. This is a program organized by the Provincial Youth Union in coordination with Regiment 250 with many meaningful activities ineducating life skills for students. However, Ms. Ha, like many parents, expressed regret because the semester was a bit shorter than expected. "The semester could have lasted about 10 days to 2 weeks, which would have been good because the children had just gotten used to the new routine, started to enjoy experiences, outdoor activities and had just made friends before it ended," said Ms. Ha.

Like Ms. Ha, many parents register their children for extra classes, summer skill camps, art classes, etc. in the summer to both supplement their knowledge and "keep" their children in a safe place. However, according to many parents, this is a "last resort" choice, because not all children like to study gifted subjects. Meanwhile, summer experiential activities are available but not really rich, especially activities that focus on experience and movement. Ms. Quynh Nga, Hoa Binh City shared: Honestly, this summer, I want my children to have fun and not have to bury themselves in learning knowledge and learning gifted subjects if they don't like it. I want my children to be more active, but I find that organizing summer activities for children is still a formality, especially lacking in real experiential and fun activities.

That is also the concern of many parents in Hoa Binh City. In many residential areas, it is not difficult to realize that there are very few yards for children to organize physical games such as soccer, badminton... Therefore, the entertainment options of many children in the city are limited to staying indoors and playing video games, watching TV, computers, and phones. The situation of children addicted to games and lack of exercise is increasing.

If in the city, children do not have space to participate in physical activities, in rural areas, especially in highland communes, finding a safe and useful playground for children is also difficult. In many highland districts, during the summer, students do not have a playground for sports or other recreational activities, in addition to helping their parents with simple tasks such as herding buffalo, collecting firewood, harvesting rice and corn. In many places, cultural houses in villages, hamlets, and residential areas are built spaciously, but most of them are used for meetings, few places invest in playground equipment for children. And in the summer, in the hot and humid weather, splashing around in cool water is still the top priority for children.

Lack of playgrounds not only limits children's ability to exercise, making it difficult for them to develop comprehensively, but also poses a risk of drowning, traffic accidents, or getting lost in electronic games. Therefore, not only for urban children, creating playgrounds for rural children, especially children in mountainous communes during the summer, needs a lot of attention. Comrade Nguyen Thanh Luan, Deputy Secretary of the Hoa Binh Provincial Youth Union, said: During the summer, the Youth Union chapters at all levels in the province have organized many meaningful and practical activities for children. With the motto "safe and useful summer fun", the activities not only create healthy playgrounds but also contribute to educating and training life skills for children, such as military semester activities, gifted classes, and extracurricular activities at the Provincial Youth Activity Center. However, in reality, it must be recognized that these activities are mainly in the city and the centers, while in remote areas, there are still limitations.

The province currently has over 245,000 children. The demand for playgrounds for children is very high, helping them have full conditions for healthy entertainment during the summer. In fact, many localities in the province lack land funds to build playgrounds, lack mechanisms, policies, and capital for construction investment, not to mention the management of playgrounds. Therefore, to have safe and healthy playgrounds, creating conditions for children to develop comprehensively and perfect life skills, it is necessary to have the drastic participation of sectors and levels, along with specific mechanisms and policies for implementation. Before making appropriate investments in this content, local youth organizations and teams need to have useful and practical summer activities to attract children to participate, create healthy playgrounds and orient safe summer activities for children.

Phuong Linh

Source: https://baohoabinh.com.vn/274/202253/He-ve-nan-giai-bai-toan-cho-tre-choi-gi,-o-dau.htm