VietNamNet Bridge – Instead of relaxing and playing to enjoy the summer holiday, the children in urban areas have to stay indoors all day, go together with the parents to the office or go to the countryside to stay with grandparents.

Hearing the knock at the door, Nguyen Ha Ngoc Linh, 6, in Hoang Mai district showed gladness in her expression, because this meant someone visited her house.

It was 3 pm, but Linh still had not finished her lunch. Ha Thi Nga, the mother of Linh, complained that she had to stay off work to take care for Linh. “I still cannot decide where to leave Linh on summer holiday. It’s always a headache to me to make such decisions every summer,” the woman complained.

Linh has begun her summer holiday and she would only come back to school in mid-July for the summer extra classes. Her mother feels insecure when leaving Linh at home alone. She is considering sending Linh to the grandparents in Hai Duong province.

“I really want my daughter to have time to relax and play. However, I don’t know where to send her to. Summer classes prove to be the only choice for me,” she complained.

Hearing that she would be sent to summer classes, Ngoc Linh burst crying: “I don’t want to go to class in summer. Please, leave me alone at home. I will be obedient, I promise,” the girl said.

Vu Ngoc Thoa in Tu Liem district has asked her mother to leave the home village for Hanoi to help her take care for her son, who has entered his summer holiday. Thoa feels secure when leaving the kid with the grandmother, believing that nothing wrong would happen with the child.

However, since the grandmother remains unfamiliar to the Hanoi’s streets, she and the grandchild have been staying at home all day. The boy, who cannot go out, just sits watching TVs or plays with toys.

“I feel sorry for my grandchild. He needs to enjoy his childhood by going out, running and playing. Meanwhile, he is now like a bird in a glass house,” the grandmother said.

Bringing children with themselves to the office is the solution chosen by other parents. The work surface of Nguyen Duc Manh in Hai Ba Trung district is now shared by him and his son, five years old.

While Manh is busy with his works, the boy gazes at his iPad to play online games. Sometimes Manh reminds the boy to greet his visiting colleagues.

“Bringing him to the office is the last resort. But I have no other choice,” he explained to the colleagues.

“I don’t intend to keep him next to me all day. I am going to send him to life skill practicing classes, where he can relax and enjoy his time,” he continued. But Manh said the life skill classes would only keep the boy busy for a short time, which means that the boy would have to stay indoors for the other time.

The modern parents well understand the problems of their children, but they have not found the solutions yet. Hanoi is still serious lacking amusement parks for children.

Bao Linh and some parents in Hoang Mai district have decided to contribute money to set up a park for the local children themselves on a 200 square meter deserted land plot near her house.

“We are still conducting negotiations on the construction of the park. We would need much money. But we still put a high hole on the project,” Linh said.

Tien Phong