Practice reading habits for children during the summer

In recent days, a short video posted on social media recording contrasting images at Tan Son Nhat Airport (Ho Chi Minh City) has attracted much attention. The image shows that while two foreign children are attentively reading books, in the row next to them, two other Vietnamese children are glued to their cell phones.

Just a short video on social media has attracted a lot of shares and comments. Many people admit that they have long considered their phones as a "nanny" to look after their children. Many families often let their children use smartphones in public places to avoid disturbing others. Many mothers even regularly use their mobile phones to "look after their children" so they can do other things with their hands free.

My friend had to ask for her child to keep his academic results to cure his game addiction. Because the family is short of people, every time the child comes home from school, she often lets him play on his phone so that he has free time to cook or clean the house. When he was young, he watched YouTube, but when he grew up, he became addicted to video games on his cell phone. He played so much that he had trouble sleeping and was often restless. Whenever he was not allowed to use his phone, he became restless, upset, and broke things.

The above story is not uncommon in many families this summer.

Summer is a time for children to have fun, explore the world around them and recharge their batteries. Among many experiences, books are a useful choice to make the summer more meaningful. But how many of us are willing to choose books for our children to read this summer?

A statistic from the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution (Ministry of Information and Communications) published in early May shows the reality of reading and reading culture today. In the past 5 years, on average, each Vietnamese person reads 2.8 books per year.(including e-book reading). This figure is much lower than that of other countries in the region and the world. According to a report by the Library Department (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), in 2023, the percentage of Vietnamese people who do not read books at all will be 26%, those who occasionally read books will be 44% and only 30% of the population will read books regularly.

Meanwhile, in Malaysia, students must read for 15 minutes before class. In Korea, parents read with their children at least 3 days a week, 30 minutes each time. In Japan, they have a special holiday called "Children's Reading Day". This day is stipulated in the Law on Promotion of Children's Reading Activities. In many European countries, reading with children is formed from a young age and becomes a daily habit before going to bed every night.

Watching the phone is not bad, but in reality, it is very difficult to control the content, so it is easy for children to be influenced by bad information on the internet. But reading books, parents can control the content their children watch more easily.

In recent years, Hai Duong, like many other localities in the country, has had many ways to encourage children to participate in reading during the summer. The provincial library has equipped many new books for children to read and borrow during this time. Activities to encourage children to read during the summer are continuously organized such as book fairs, book buying days at the same price or books sold by weight... The Hai Duong province Reading Culture Ambassador Contest is held regularly every summer.

In the province, there are also many individuals who set up bookcases for children to read for free. Typical examples include the bookcase of the Vu The family, the free bookcase of the boy with spinal muscular atrophy Tran Vu Long, both in Cam Giang district, or the bookcase of the Vu family in Mo Trach village in Tan Hong commune, Binh Giang district...

To have children who love reading, parents should first set an example of reading and spread this habit to their children.