Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-31 21:46:37|Editor: zh
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Students perform traditional Chinese opera during an event in celebration of the upcoming International Children's Day in Yiyuan County of Zibo City, east China's Shandong Province, May 31, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhao Dongshan)
Prime minister invites all children to celebrate Children's Day Paweł Supernak/PAP
On Twitter on Friday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki invited all children and their attendants to Children's Day celebrations falling on Saturday. The festivities will be held at the PM Office's gardens, Royal Łazienki Park and Agrykola Park in Warsaw.
"We invite everyone - small and big ones - to celebrate Children's Day together, and let us thank our children for their presence in our life. A happy childhood is a lot of smiles, love and making dreams comes true. There is nothing more important than parenting, giving the best start in life for the little one's future," the prime minister said in a video posted on Twitter on Friday.
As the PM noted, among the amusements there will be lots of toys and games and competitions with prizes. According to the PM's office, there will also be an opportunity to see military equipment, cars and robots for special tasks.
Helping children find their voice on China’s Children’s day
Did you know that, according the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, anyone under the age of 18 is still a ‘child’? June 1 is Children’s Day, a day on which in China, children are in the spotlight. On this day, Chinese schools usually organize activities and parents take their children out to play. Though the Dutch don’t really celebrate this day, Dutch children are, according to a 2017 UNICEF survey, the happiest in the world. And it might just be due to the fact that we take our children very seriously.
To enable children to understand news and complex developments, Dutch children can watch their own news broadcast called the ‘Youth News” (Jeugdjournaal). The Netherlands was one of the first countries worldwide to introduce this, only second to the UK. Another typically Dutch children's show is the 'Klokhuis' (called after the core of an apple). This show explains difficult concepts with educational reports, songs and fun animations. Their topics range from train maintenance to divorce or national parks.
©Kindertelefoon
Advising and supporting children anonymously
But keeping our children happy is also about protecting children when things should’ve gone differently. One such initiative, the Children’s Phone is celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. At times, children may feel they don’t know who to reach out to. Whether it’s trouble at school, or just feelings they don’t know how to cope with, the Children’s Phone is there to help. The initiative consists of a team of almost 500 volunteers, who help guide children in discovering and coping with emotions. Besides ‘adult’ volunteers the NGO also has ‘young’ volunteers aged under 18. Besides a the telephone line, children can also chat about their questions or feelings and there’s also a forum for peer-to-peer advice. Questions can range from innocent advice, for instance how to tell your parents you really don’t like that dog they bought, to cries for help in abusive families. Calls and chats are always anonymous, the number never shows up on the phone bill, and the NGO’s volunteers have about 400 conversations daily.
Monitoring adherence to children’s rights
The Netherlands also has its own Children’s Ombudsman, an official who monitors whether children’s rights are adhered to in the Netherlands. The ombudsman is appointed to raise issues and provide advice regarding child welfare in both the central and local government but also private organizations in education, childcare, child welfare and health care. The UN’s Convention of the Rights of the Child lays the foundation of the working area of the Children’s Ombudsman, which includes for instance the right to education, protection against discrimination and the right to decide on their own religion or beliefs. The UN’s Convention of the Rights of the Child is also an important theme in the Netherlands’ foreign policy.
Whether it’s China, the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world, let’s aim to make every day children’s day!
If you were a parent, would you have enrolled your children to a series of interest-oriented classes, ranging from music and sports to Mathematical Olympiad? If yes, what would have been your motive? Making sure they don't lag behind at the "starting line" or developing and improving their interests?
It is hard for many parents to strike the right balance between providing their children a happy childhood and creating a competitive edge from an early age.
According to a 2019 survey by 51job.com on children's education investment in China, 38.8 percent respondents confessed to spending around 20-30 percent of their annual household income on their children.
The pressure on the children is not abated. /VCG Photo The pressure on the children is not abated. /VCG Photo
The survey also revealed that the expenditure is the highest during preschool and junior middle school stages, highlighting the escalating trend of increased expenditure on children at a younger age.
Nearly 60 percent of the surveyed families said that they have enrolled their children in extracurricular classes, costing between 100 and 200 yuan (15-23 U.S. dollars) per hour.
A 2018 survey by the Shanghai Association for Quality found that each child, on an average, attends two classes for two hours per week. The average annual spending for families on these extracurricular classes adds up to about 17,832 yuan (around 3,700 U.S. dollars).
Kids under mounting pressure
Unlike most of the post-80s and 90s kids, who often enjoyed eating watermelon while watching TV dramas after a long day at school, today's children are compelled to receive interest-oriented classes which are often way ahead of their intellectual levels and not in accordance with their personal interests.
This stressful trend has permeated the whole society.
Many parents, partly because of the pressure they face at their workplace, believe their children mastering a professional skill will be good for their future. Therefore, these parents go for interest-oriented classes to embed strong practicality in their children's personality.
It is hard for many parents to strike the right balance between providing their children a happy childhood and making them competitive from an early age. /VCG Photo It is hard for many parents to strike the right balance between providing their children a happy childhood and making them competitive from an early age. /VCG Photo
The sooner a child starts pre-school education, the better their intelligence quality could develop, and then there are greater chances of succeeding in the exam-based education system later in their lives.
Nearly 40 percent of the surveyed families said that an age between 2 and 7 is optimal for starting children's education, while 22.9 percent families opted for an age between 11 and 15. Some 70 percent families believed that earlier childhood education could help their children lead a decent life in the future.
Education experts warn that forcing and pushing children to learn may quench their thirst for knowledge and lead to passive resistance.
With more and more young parents looking aboard for kids' education, private education services like bilingual training have sprung up across the whole country.
The situation gets worse when parents find out that their kid is lagging behind in comparison with other kids, leaving them more anxious to register for more extracurricular classes.
"When I found out that my best friend's three-year-old daughter could recognize more words than my four-year-old son I felt so anxious," Lu, a full-time mother in Hangzhou told CGTN.
Due to the exam-based education system in China, where most prestigious schools evaluate students based on their performances in tests, parents feel more anxious about pushing their kids toward private classes for mathematics, music, sports and foreign languages.
When parents plead for more homework
Even though the government has issued regulations to limit homework pressure, children in China are still burdened by their parents with after-school education.
Education experts warn that forcing and pushing children to learn may quench their thirst for knowledge and lead to passive resistance. /VCG Photo Education experts warn that forcing and pushing children to learn may quench their thirst for knowledge and lead to passive resistance. /VCG Photo
In February 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Education announced measures known as "Jianfu," or "burden reduction" to ease academic workload of primary and middle school students.
However, the policy sparked an outcry on social media, with some parents pleading authorities to give their kids more homework.
The decision may downsize the resources spent on education and prevent children from poor families from fairly completing studies with kids from richer families, some parents argued.
"The policy's true motive is to discourage poor people from having children, which means destroying the traditional Chinese family unit," a netizen said on Weibo.
It looks like Gearbest and Banggood are all set to celebrate children’s day. In order to commemorate this special day, the aforesaid Chinese online stores have come up with amazing promotions.
International Children’s Day Toys Flash Sale on Gearbest
Buying toys for your kids can prove to be a backbreaking task, given that the market is teeming with all sorts of toys. Choosing the right toy for your child without emptying your pocket is now possible, thanks to Gearbest’s latest promotion.
Dubbed as ‘International Children’s Day Toys Flash Sale,’ the promo has been split into multiple categories including Top Deals, Save 10% with 2 Pcs, Cool RC Toys, Home for Children, etc. More importantly, you can buy the toys included in these categories at lowered prices.
Keeping in line with that, the ‘Top Deals’ section features a slew of popular toys that usually carry steep price tags but are currently available at lowered prices. For the sake of an instance, the CaDA Assembling Racing Car Model Educational Toy would normally set you back $$92.83, but you can now buy it for only $61.99.
This is a noteworthy 33 percent drop in the toy’s original asking price. Regrettably, there were only 162 pieces remaining at the time of writing. The promo is slated to end in just six days.
If you are interested in buying two toys at lowered prices, you can head straight to the next section called ‘Save 10% With 2 Pcs.’ For example, you can avail a 36 percent off on the Xiaomi Populele APP LED Bluetooth USB Smart Ukulele, which usually sells for $140.76 under this category.
In other words, you can buy the Xiaomi Populele APP LED Bluetooth USB Smart Ukulele for an unbeatable price of just $89.99. Those who order over 2 pieces will be eligible for a 10 percent discount.
RC toys enthusiasts are in for a treat as well. The promotion page features a section called ‘Cool RC Toys,’ wherein you can buy top-end RC toys without emptying your pockets. Likewise, you can get your hands on highly useful items under the rest of the categories including Home for Children, Kids Tablets and More, Outdoor Goods for Children, and more.
In order to check out the rest of the products and grab the discounts, all you need to do is to visit the promotion page by clicking here.
Children’s Day Promotion on Banggood
Living true to its reputation for offering the best bang for your buck, Banggood has launched the ‘Children’s Day Promotion.’ As part of this recently kicked-off promo, Banggood will be doling out significant discounts on a wide selection of products that usually carry steep price tags.
The ‘Flash Deal’ section features the upcoming deal which will start at 00:00 (UTC+8) on June 1. The upcoming flash deal will offer a 10 percent off on the Atmos Version Original Xiaomi Aqara Smart Home Temperature & Humidity Sensor and 12 percent off on Puni Maru Giant Chocolate Banana Squishy, which normally retails for $37.99, but will be available for only $33.38.
The next section called ‘High Recommendation’ features various items that would normally burn a hole in your pocket, but are now available for reduced prices. For instance, the BlitzWolf BW-VC1 Smart Robot Vacuum Cleaner retails for $359.99, but you can now buy it for just $249.99.
This is a significant 31 percent reduction in the device’s original asking price. The promotion sale will only be valid until June 2. It is also worth noting that there were only 100 pieces remaining for the promo.
The next category is called ‘Children’s Fairyland’ and it is crammed with toys for babies aged between 2-5 years. You can pick your favorite toys without worrying about spending a lot of money on them since they all carry heavily discounted prices.
The concluding section on the promotion page is called ‘Premium Global Brand’ and it features all sorts of products from leading brands Xiaomi and Blitzwolf. There are no prizes for guessing that all items available under this category are up for grabs for reduced prices.
You can follow this link and check out the promotion page. It is worth mentioning here that the promo will be wrapping up soon.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-01 08:02:09|Editor: mingmei
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BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has wished children nationwide a happy International Children's Day.
Xi extended the greetings in a letter dated May 31 to primary school students in Macao in response to a letter they sent earlier.
Parent-child campaign to celebrate International Children’s Day
It’s Children’s Day! and children world over, are being celebrated.
Just like in other major cities around the country, in the nation’s capital, Abuja, children converged on the Old Parade Ground, adorned in colourful costumes to mark their day with march pasts and other activities.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-31 08:29:19|Editor: Li Xia
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Romanian toys are on display at the toys exhibition "Among thousands of toys" at the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest, Romania, on May 30, 2019. The toys exhibition celebrating the Internatinal Children's Day kicks off on Friday and brings toys produced over the past century in Germany, Romania, and Russia. (Xinhua/Gabriel Petrescu)
