Domestic Violence, Poverty, Anxiety………Children, Are You, Happy?

Written by an elementary school principal, on ways to, better the lives of children, with the parents, the children, as well as the school instructors, working together, toward this, one, goal, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Another Children’s Day had come, and all the local governments had, prepared the gifts to give to the school children, it’d also showed the expectancies of the society for young children; we all want them to grow up happy, but now, the reality that we live in, can’t get them just that.

Based off of the statistics of the Department of Health & Social Welfare, comparing to the number of victims in the domestic violence cases from 2021 and 2022, the victims under age twelve is on the increase, last year, there was 7,393 victims of abuse, 0.7-percent, a whole lot higher than the reported number of only a little over 5,000 from a decade ago.  While, the facets of domestic violence is no longer limited to the physical sort, it also included the psychological/emotional forms of being indifferent, cussing a child out, and all of these students, upon entering into school, may exert the behaviors of attacking others, or being, too timid, which made the teachers’ work even hard in instructing these children.

And you may observe from the psychological front, to see what the child is faced with, based off of statistic, the children and teens with a diagnosed anxiety disorder is about twelve-percent, one-percent children and adolescent have depression; the rate of suicide of adolescents is rising up quickly, and the suicide reports rose up to 62.9-percent since 2017.  All of these we need to, take a note of.  This current generation is living in the cell phones and internet, although, for most, they have no economic difficulties, but, on the psychological side, the satisfactions showed a, clear decline.  Although the school had done a lot, but there’s little to no effect.  And I have a few ways to help increase the happiness of young children in this country:

First, reducing the proposed means of activities like on issues of gender-equality, anti-bullying, instead, get the lecturer to interact with the students on a more personal level, or the forums in smaller groups, and the costs of these activities should be more flexible.  Other than increasing the counseling staff of schools, there should be the social workers, and professional therapists, and increase the personnel based off of the individual locality needs, to find out if there’s a problem earlier in the children’s lives.  As for many of the issues outside of education like national defense, disaster drills, etc., etc., leave that up to the related government agencies or use the other means, to have the preparedness tests on weekends or holidays, instead of compressing these into the already tight-enough course schedules.

Secondly, the schools, the families, the society needed to connect better, the families should find back the roles that it should be taking, the education systems should focus on the functions of the schools to pass the knowledge base, and getting the children to become more interactive, socialized with each other, the schools won’t replace the functions of the individual families.  In the declining of birthrate, the public and private organizations should offer better benefits for the employees, for instance, giving the employees a day off to care for the families with pay, and on this day, the parents need to visit the educational facilities with their young, to get the families more tightly knit with each other.

Lastly, the continual betterment of the courses, the students have the rights to decide WHAT they want to learn, and, we should change the structures of the coursework, to get rid of the hour limit for the academic classes, so the parents, children, and teachers get to set up a more interactive learning means; and the extra time that the teachers will have away from planning the lessons should be spent, interacting with the parents of their, students.

And this, is the importance of setting up a fuller network of learning and teaching, and parenting, and all of these people, the teachers, the parents, as well as the students all need to work together, for the betterment of the system, but the key here, is to get these families set up properly, with the supportive parents, but this is just not even possible, because there will always be unfitting parents, and the students are still the ones, paying the prices, and the teachers can only do so much, but now, the responsibilities of childrearing, the working parents left, to the school teachers to do, and that needed to get, changed here.

A First-Grader Got the Pants Pulled Down & Spanked in Front of the Whole Class

Apparently this school instructor did NOT get the “memo” on the EFFECTS of PUBLIC HUMILIATION there, and now, he deserved to get CHARGE, and, this FUCKER (so???) filed for retirement, to “excuse” himself, off of the Newspapers, translated…

The School Instructor in Hsinbei Accused of Physically Abusing the Students

In an elementary school in Shulin, Hsinbei City, a teacher in her fifties was called out by the parents, for dragging the students out, cussing the students out for having emotional troubles, and yet, in March, the parents told, that the instructor had, pulled down the students’ pants and spanked them.  The principal of the school stated, that by mid-March, the instructor, after being transferred, had fled for leave until the end of semester, and the improper behaviors are still pending investigation, and the results of the investigation is coming out by mid of next month.

like this!

photo from online

This instructor taught first grade, and last December, the parents called, and accused the instructor for dragging A the student out onto the hallways, called the student for being emotionally troubled, the student was psychologically and physically impacted, but the school, seeing how it was close to the end of semester, to settle the student down, started up the investigative process, and not transferred the instructor.  And yet, in mid-March, the instructor got noted for pulling down the student, B’s pants because he was horseplaying in the hallways, and spanking the student, as the parents learned, they were, awfully upset, and notified the school, again.

The principal stated, that the instructor denied having dragged out the student, that the incident was being, investigated on, before the busting of the student getting dragged at the end of last year, the instructor had filed for retirement already.

The Hsinbei Department of Education told, that as the school was notified, it’d already started up the security reports, and, the school is now, being investigated for not taking the complaints seriously enough.

And so, this is what you get, when you failed to report the abuse of the students in school, and this shit still happened, and there’s nothing we can do about it, because this country is still having difficulties, adapting to the ZERO corporal punishment means of education.

My Son’s Hitting His Classmate

What exactly had, happened, be sure, you LISTEN to both their sides, the whole, story before you rush to conclusion, to enforce a, punishment on what you saw!  Translated…

Picked up my second-grade son from his afterschool program, on the way, he’d become, too, quiet, no matter what I’d asked, he’d only, responded with, “mmmmmmmmmm”, on the supper tables, he’d not acted like himself, chiming on incessantly about the goings on of his day.

As I was doing the dishes, he’d come, handed me a note from his homeroom instructor, I’d wiped my hands, taken the note, and it’d made me realized, why he was, too, quiet—the note said that my son hit his classmate today, she’d hoped, that we could, tell him the importance of following the rules, and go in person to the school, to apologize to the parents of the child my son hit.

I’d squatted down and hugged my son first, and wondered to myself, although this child never gets taken, but, me getting notified for him hitting someone, this was, a first.  My son told me, that his classmate had, hit him first, but the teacher’s note stated, that those who were nearby saw him rushed over to the other boy’s seat, and beaten him.

And surely, if there are, witnesses, then, we can only, go to school in two days as the teacher requested us to.  To apologize to the student, and his, parents in person.  In the two day’s time, my son kept claiming that it was the other student who’d, hit him, first, and blamed the instructor for being, unjust.  But, the witnesses saw what they saw, and we can only, warn our son, and went to school as scheduled.

As we saw the other parents, we’d apologized, and had our son say he was sorry to the other boy; my son, who’d kept everything in for two whole days, shouted that the other boy hit him first, then, burst out crying loud.  We’d immediately tried to soothe him, told him, that it was okay, if he’d done something wrong, so long as he change and never do it, again.  He’d snuffled as he’d slurred on what had happened, that was when we were able to, piece what had happened, together.

illustration from UDN.com

Turned out, there were two episodes of this incident.  The first episode happened during the break between the class periods, that student don’t know why, punched my son as the bell rang for the class, but to not be late, he can only, run back to the classrooms.  And, during that entire period, I imagined, that my son was thinking about, that punch his classmate deserved from him, then, as the bell rang, came the bottom half of the hitting incident, what everybody around them saw, my son rammed to the other individual, to hit him.

Thankfully, the other parents, as well as his instructors are all of sound mind, in the end, the matter was settled in both apologizing to one another, and promised to never use their fists instead of their, words.  On the way home, my son became his own, chatty old, self again, and, reported on what happened, big and small in school that day.  And, I’d, had the imagine of my son, fisting, with his cheeks red, sat in his seat, couldn’t hear a word in class, waited for the bell to ring, it was kind of, funny, and it’d made my heart ached.

Although this incident was resolved, as parents too busy at work, we’d learned something too—as the kids tell us what happened, they may not be articulate enough to tell us what had happened from start to end, that often, we needed to guide them, to listen patiently, to help them see exactly what had, happened before, this can not just help the children develop more logically, and it can also prevent our kids from, feeling that their feelings were, not cared for.

And so, based off of the scenes, if the parents only zoomed in on how this young lad went to his classmate, and PUNCHED him, we can easily rush to the judgement, that it’s the kid who’d hit the other’s fault, but, as we examined what had happened prior, then, we will realized, that things aren’t as they seemed, that why this kid hit this other kid has a reason, and the parents, being rational, had made this incident get resolved, with no more troubles.

Don’t Say “Black” — claytoonz

, If this cartoon looks familiar, it’s because it’s a sequel. Ron DeSantis gave us “don’t say gay.” Now, he’s giving us “don’t say black.” Officially titled the Parental Rights in Education law, the measure enacted last year bans Florida public school teachers from engaging in classroom instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity. It’s […]

Don’t Say “Black” — claytoonz

I Wish You Never Existed

Lessons learned by a child, growing up, in the comparing means of his father, to a coworker’s son, and he’s never going to, repeat that same mistake his own father made with him and his siblings, with his own, young again, because he lived through the trials, the pains of never measuring up to that “perfect” kid!  Translated…

I don’t know you, and you, you’d, shown up at our meals, from my father’s, descriptions, I grew up, with you around.  During those, decades of time, the four of us siblings often discussed how great you were scholastically, because our fathers were, coworkers; from their conversations, the discussions seemed to circle around their young.

We lived in different cities, at the start, I was head of class in my elementary school, a model student, as were, you.  Our fathers, as they’d, talked about us, they must be, very, proud.  Into the middle school year, I’d gotten into a private school, with all the excellent elementary graduate I had to, compete with, my grades lagged, far, far behind, and I was only able to get into the local community high school then.  While you’d, crossed the county line, got accepted to your first choice, Chien-Guo All-Boys’ High School.  Your grades, are something that my siblings and I can, never, compete, with.  My siblings could NOT exceed me, and followed to study in my local, high school, and my father blamed me for not “setting a better example” for them.

And, you, in Chien-Guo All-Boys’ High School, fulfilled the expectations of others, three years later, you got accepted into N.T.U., and into the electrical engineering major, the top of the science departments.  In the narrow acceptance rates, this was the top-notch, most, prestigious, it’s considered a high honor, even now.  Comparing, I’d only gotten into a private university, due to my bad grades in high school, although I’d not completely, “shamed” my father, but I’d received the words of, “thank heavens you still had a school that accepted you”.

And, seeing it, your father, because of how high your grades were, gotten boasted of how he’d, bred an, excellent son.  And, not know how that had, impacted us, the four of us siblings were, tried too hard because of you, in the ages, we kept on being, compared with you, and we’d, gotten, talked down to.  From the start to end, I’d only known you as the son of so-and-so, don’t even know your name.  To tell the truth, I looked up to you, and yet, I wish, that you never, existed.

Many years later, as my kids are entering into university, I kept, warning myself, to NEVER walk in the footsteps of my own, father, to stop these, “comparisons”, to keep my children and I from connecting better with one another.  Besides, there’s more than the grades, the getting accepted into universities of the younger years, I’d much rather, that my children have a healthy, safe, and happy life instead.

So, this, is a shadow that hovered you and your siblings growing up, that someone’s child that’s from your father’s office, that’s, always, excellent, outperforming everybody else, and he became, this, unreachable goal that you couldn’t, obtain, and, your father compared you and your siblings to this, “perfect” kid, and it’d, hurt you in your childhood years, and now you’re a parent, you are, surely, to NEVER do the same to your own children, and that is, a hell of a lot better a parent than your father ever was, to you!

As a Mother

It’s these moments, that surprises us, that came from our own young, that made us feel, that it’d been, more than, worth it!  Translated…

It’d been, a whole decade since I last got pregnant.  I’d entered into my thirty-sixth year, plus the lacking of the regular exercises, my body is, feeling, the difference of the last pregnancy comparing to this one.  With the progression of the months, the nitty-gritties of the household chores, started getting to me.  I’d called my three children to the tables, and discussed with them the splitting of the household chores, explained how they’re now, older, and secondly, mom’s getting tired easily, and needed everybody to chip in to help out.

I’d once read from a book, that: children are very observant.  And, on that day, those words got, proven, they new, that the mother before them who was asking them to help was more tired than usual.  As they’d gotten assigned to the individual tasks, they’d, gone to them immediately, without me saying anything more, because of how I now had the assisting hands, my role was no longer, the maid, the hag, the nag, I’d had the heart of gratitude, to pick up the slacks of what my children overlooked.  Sometimes, I’d thanked my young at suppertime.

motherhood, something amazing, and very, rewarding too! Photo from online

One morning, as I was halfway into my household chores, I’d suddenly felt this sharp pain in my lower back, and at bedtime, I’d still, felt, awful.  As my child heard, she’d told me in a small voice, “mom, next time, you let me know what you need to do!”, then, she’d started, giving me the massages on my lower back to help ease my pain, I’d felt, so very, moved then.

From before, in my moments of defeat, in interacting with my children, I’d felt, upset, thinking, that this long and winding road is, never going to, end; and now, as I’m pregnant, in my most weakened physical state of being, I’d found, that those saplings I’d been, taking care of, looking after, they’d, grown strong too.

“You will be tried for a period of time, but, as the kids grow up, you will, feel the joys, of motherhood”, those words of console from a friend from many years ago, I’d, placed them, close to my heart, and, on this very night, my friend’s words, became, that brightest star in the skies, giving me something, to look forward to.

And so, in that moment in time, you know, that you’d, raised up your own young well, into, caring, responsible young people, and, no matter how hard the road up ahead is going to get, you will, have this moment, to recall, to look back to, to help you find the strengths you will need, in the future, when things get tough.

When the Children Say They Don’t Have Anything

Boundaries, that this mother failed to realize that existed, between her “orders”, and her son’s free will of wanting to or not, to share his, toys, translated…

I married late, to not become an at-risk pregnant woman, I’d had two children right after I was married, a first time mother, with work, one to two, I’d, spun around endlessly, started losing my patience often, I’d, ordered my children to behave themselves, and getting mean, it’d worked for the time being, but I’d failed to note the effects of my parenting style to my young.

One day, my two sons fought over the toys, I’d used that same old way to resolve, and I’d shared my experiences of this with an older schoolmate, she’d shared her own experiences with me: she has only one son, worried that he would be lonely, and so, she’d often invited her relatives’, friends, to bring their children over to play, and always told her son to take out his toys to share, and he’d done what he’d been, told too; until one day, the young boy refused, as the host, and the mother, she’d felt awkward, and tried persuading her own young to share, but he’d started wailing loudly, ran back into his own room.  She couldn’t comprehend why he’d carried himself in such a manner, afterwards, she’d asked him, he’d told her, “They’re NOT my toys, they’re all yours, you wanted me to take them out to share, and I have to, I have, absolutely, nothing!”

in teaching children to share, we often forget to allow them to OWN their own toys!

this is often reinforced as a good behavior, sharing our toys with other children…photo from online

She’d immediately come to know, that just because children are young, they’re a reflection of the adults’, actions.  “Sharing” is a hard to manage lesson, to share, you must first, “have”, then, be “willing” to share what you have; and sharing with others willingly, not only would it make you liked by others, it’s also, a sign of self-confidence, generosity, and treating others kind, the end results?  Beneficial to everybody involved.  As parents, we not only need to use our actions to set a better example, we also need to constantly encourage our young, that it’s, a good thing to share with others.

This was what she’d learned, from the lessons in teaching her young son to share, that I hope to “share” with all who reads this!

And so, from the adults’ perspective, it’s important that we learn to share, but from a kid’s perspective: it’s mine, why do I have to share?  And that’s what made this young boy upset, because it’s HIS toys, and as his mother told him to take it out to allow others to play with them too, he’d lost the rights to his own things, and that’s what parents, often, overlooked: the children’s feelings, just because someone comes over to play, that does NOT mean, that your kids need to share their toys, it’s theirs, and they should have the right to decide if they want to take out their toys, so the families or friends’ kids who’d come visit can play!

Using the iPads in Class, the Students Split Up into Groups, No Longer Lost Their Focus in Class as Often

As this “gift” of an iPad per student gets implemented, the results of learning are, positive, for now…off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The laws of “every student gets an iPad for learning” started being implemented at the start of this semester, but other than the problems of not enough digital education teaching methods, there are the teachers who’d found that the students, as the iPads were issued in class, they’d started searching for the online games, they became easily distracted, and it’d caused a huge impact on their learning.  And so, some schools started tackling the problem on the hardware, giving the students a smaller laptop instead of iPads; there were also instructors who’d started from the software programs, through the smaller groups and learning level differences, the students put into groups, they’d not become so distracted easily, the lower achieving students can also find their own motivations for learning as well.

“Every student gets an iPad” plan after its implementation, the teachers found, that the students are higher in their classroom participation, but are also, more easily distracted.  The principal of the Ji-Hsin Elementary School, Lin told, that a lot of parents, due to how busy they are at work, used the high-tech gadgets to help them raise their children, and it’d caused the children to have the impressions of how the high-tech gadgets are only used in play, which greatly affects the results of their learning.

like, this! Photo from online

Teachers had adjusted their teaching methods, with the rule of “every student allotted an iPad for learning”.  The middle school English instructor from Yunlin, Chou shared, that splitting her students up in groups based off of the different levels of skills in English, the students who are behind are more prone to ask the students who already knew the materials to help them get caught up, and they’d learned better, and they could help keep each other in check, to resolve the mental barriers they have toward learning.  Chang, the fourth grade instructor from Garlic Elementary School also told, that through the splitting up of students in class based off of their levels of understanding, the teams after receiving the lessons from the instructors, they would split up the tasks themselves, and get the lessons done on time, then, transferred their answers on the small laptops onto the sheets by writing.

And so, this is how the positive effects are showing in learning, with the plans of every student gets an iPad in class for use, and, learning with an iPad is effective, because, children nowadays, are into learning things by watching the videos on the smartphones, the iPads, and high-tech gadgets, and this plan incorporates that, besides, the students can’t get the iPad they use to take them home, which means, that in their off-hours, they wouldn’t be, glued to the screens.

If My Son Didn’t Go to School

What sort of activities a parent CAN do, with a young child, if s/he isn’t, in school…translated…

Sometimes, I’d contemplated: if I didn’t send my two-year-old son to school, how would I schedule the activities for his, days?  Before I’d sent him off to school, I’d stayed at home, without pay, but still on the payroll, took care of him for close to two years.  Other than playing his toys with him, reading books to him, watching him turn things upside down, I’d, taken him out to stroll, to walk around, to look.

Carrefour, the PX Mart, the wholesales marts are a great place, he would, curiously look at the items on the shelves, the refrigerated bins, to pick out the brands of milk he wanted, I’d told him the names of the foods and produces, for instance, eggplants, mushrooms, etc., etc., etc.  to get what he’d read up on the books into his, reality, to help him, make the, connections.  He’d loved going to HOLA too, but I’d had to, watch him very carefully, in case, that he may, play with the electronic trash can until the batteries are drained completely, or with his shoes on, he’d, climbed onto the beds on display and jumped up and down.

to the park…photo from online

For a child, the wholesales places are spacious, they get to run around and explore; for parents, these wholesales marts are our, saviors, we get to, take a break, from needing to zoom in on kids every second.  And so, we can, continue, to use this activity of shopping in the wholesales mart repeatedly.

But, he’s already over two years of age, I’d taken him to the classes, to get him into the musical exercise classes, the physical activities courses, the pottery lessons, the art classes, etc., etc., etc., along with the reading sessions where the professional instructors would read the stories instead of me to him, and, the instructors must’ve read the stories in a more animated way than I ever can.  I’d take him to the music movement courses, he’d enjoyed it very much, the rest, I’m sure, that he would, learn to love too.

The men, in caring for their own young, they should go to the parks, for the outdoorsy activities, like taking the children to the parks to run to play, and, best if, the adults can, run along with the kids, although, sometimes, we may feel like our bones are about to, fall, apart, but, how can we not, be role models, and we get to, exercise, to lose the weights too.  My son loved the sandbox, and of course, I wouldn’t, play with him in it, digging up the sands, but, if he’d, buried his toys in the sandbox, I’d had to, dig up the whole box with him, trying, to find all his, buried, toys.

to the library…

photo from online

Libraries are a must.  Every time, my young son would get all enthusiastic, looking for what he wanted me to read to him, but, five minutes in, he’d wanted to switch to another story, and in the end, we went through, more than a dozen of books, without any of it being, read front to back.  But that’s fine too, immersing him into books, getting him into contact with books, I’m sure, that this would have, a subliminal effect on him later.  The age of two years is when a child gets extremely active physically, when he’s older, I’m sure, that he would, love reading more and more.

If he wasn’t in school, the above are the things that I think I will be, doing with him.  But, he is, in school now, I’d, written them down right here, and, give it to my self, in an, alternative, universe.

And so, this is a sort of a wish list then?  If your child isn’t in school, these are the interesting things you can, plan for him to do together, and maybe, you wish, that you could, spend more time with him, but because maybe, you have to work, that’s why, you needed to, put him into the early education programs, who knows, but, these are things that anybody can do with her/his own, young child, to socialize one’s own young.

or to the supermarkets…photo from online

The Air, My Friend

How parents’ telling the kid don’t, or you can’t do this or that, is preventing them from exercising their, free, will, the column by, Jimmi Liao, translated, by me…

The Moments of Nobody Whispering into Our Ears: You Can’t Do This, You Can’t, Do That, We All Must, Cherish Them.

illustration from UDN, by Jimmi Liao

And, this still just showed, how YOU the parents, ARE the ones, preventing your own young from reaching the highest potentials that they possibly can, because you tell them don’t do this, don’t do that, because it’s dangerous to climb up that high, to see if they can, actually, FLY without wings, etc., etc., etc. and you’re, preventing your young from living their childhoods, to their, fullest, potentials by banning from doing this, and doing that!