Kindergarten children worked hard to do manual work, and as a result, all their classmates bought it online.

Kindergarten children make handmade lanterns under the guidance of teachers. Photo by Wang Xiao

　　The whole family made warm lanterns with environmentally friendly materials and their own ideas — — This is an assignment given to children and parents by a kindergarten in Guangzhou before the Mid-Autumn Festival this year.

　　From painting, cutting to production, 4-year-old Tong Tong and her mother had a lot of effort to make a lantern out of waste materials. However, when Tong Tong took the lantern to the kindergarten to participate in the competition with joy, it was compared with the online shopping lanterns in the hands of other children, which were high-end in the atmosphere and only needed to stick sticky water in the production process.

　　Child injury: self-made lost to online shopping

　　In order to create a festive atmosphere and increase children’s traditional cultural knowledge, many kindergartens organized a variety of activities during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year.

　　In Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places, some kindergartens not only teach children to make moon cakes, tell traditional stories related to the Mid-Autumn Festival and play various games, but also require children to wear traditional costumes and make various lanterns to participate in the competition.

　　"After receiving the homework assigned by the school, I immediately went online to find out how to make lanterns." Ms. Yan, a citizen of Shenzhen, said that her children have just entered a small class this year and dare not fall behind in any school activities. She spent most of her time from collecting used cartons and disposable chopsticks to teaching children to paste and paint.

　　However, like Ms. Yan, some parents found that lanterns made of waste materials were the ugliest when they showed their works in kindergarten. It turns out that some parents bought DIY lanterns online, from the selection of materials to the glue used to stick the lanterns.

　　Parents just need to wait for the courier to come to the door, just like pressing the shutter of a fool’s camera, saving time and effort to finish their homework, and the lanterns made are professional in materials and high-end in appearance, so many children don’t need to start work at all. Finally, in the evaluation of the school, these online shopping products won one by one.

　　"Hey, mom will buy you a nice one next time." Seeing the child lost, the mother on the side comforted helplessly.

Children in a kindergarten in Hebei show clothes made of waste materials. Photo by Mou Yu

　　Parents are distressed: they can’t do it and have no time to do it.

　　Many parents believe that the original intention of the school to arrange these manual homework is good, but the result has not developed in the direction expected by the school. Some teachers meet the occasion for the festival, while some parents cope with it for the sake of coping.

　　"After three days of arranging homework related to the Mid-Autumn Festival, I will surrender only by making lanterns." Binbin’s mother, a middle-class child who has done a good job, but is worried that she is "not a clever woman", said.

　　"Since the children went to school, we have been afraid of festivals. Most of the final tasks of some festivals held by the school fall on parents." Mr. Tan, a citizen of Shenzhen, said that he and his wife both work in a public hospital, and it is normal to work overtime at ordinary times, and sometimes there is no double holiday.

　　Many parents said that in order to cope with the manual work assigned by the school, they usually turn to the Internet for help. Half a month, reporters searched online and found that all kinds of lanterns can be bought at a price ranging from a few yuan to dozens of yuan. In addition to lanterns, many manual assignments arranged by the school can be bought online.

　　"Before, we worked hard to cut, cut and draw, and we couldn’t get a small train with a used express box. Planes, cannons and robots purchased online only need to be assembled a little, and when they are pressed, they will sing and light up, which will make the children happy and save the parents much trouble. " A mother in Guangzhou said that online shopping really solved many parents’ troubles.

Kindergarten children play with dragon dance costumes made of old cartons. Photo by Yang Chenguang

　　Appraisal orientation should encourage self-control

　　It is a good thing to use the time node of traditional festivals to expose children to traditional cultural symbols and cultivate an environmental protection concept from an early age. However, when children use waste materials to create lanterns, they can’t compete with online shopping products in the evaluation. This evaluation result hurts not only children, but also our education.

　　Cheng Hongbing, president of Shenzhen Mingde Experimental School, believes that holding lanterns that can be completed with sticky water in kindergarten will not only make the cultural connotation and warmth of Mid-Autumn Festival gradually away from children, but also make coping with bad habits take root in children’s hearts, and let children develop the habit of getting something for nothing.

　　Zhou Yunqing, a sociology professor at Wuhan University, said that there must be certain rules of the game in the appraisal. Although the works made by children by using waste materials and hollowing out their minds are not exquisite, they are children’s creations and labor achievements, and schools should encourage them.

　　Cheng Hongbing suggested that society should undertake some educational functions when many parents don’t have time. For example, during the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, the Party Committee of Songbai Community, Henggang Street, Longgang District, Shenzhen launched a DIY activity of Mid-Autumn Lantern in the community party and mass service center, which attracted more than 30 teenagers to participate. When making lanterns, the community invited three elderly volunteers to guide the children, erecting shelves, hanging ears, cutting double-sided tape, pasting paper and installing colored lights … … Children enjoy it. (Half-monthly talk with reporter Zhou Ke and Huang Haoyuan)