A lack of play and quality time for children with their parents is likely to lead to rebellion in adolescence, parenting groups said yesterday after an online post showing an intensive schedule for elementary-school students went viral.
In a post on Facebook on Tuesday, a cram school in Taipei praised the achievements of two siblings named Felix and Jenny, who are in the sixth and fourth grade respectively.
The post included their weekly schedule, which leaves time for only six hours and 20 minutes of sleep each night.
Photo courtesy of National Cheng Kung University’s Taiwan Languages Testing Center
The schedule showed that they wake up at 5:50am every day for two hours of study using the Kumon system before going to elementary and cram school on weekdays until 7pm. They practice piano and English until 11:30pm, and do homework and eat dinner on the bus.
Their weekends are also packed with homework, classes, piano practice, swimming lessons and other activities, with the schedule showing no down time.
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) commented on the issue yesterday before attending an awards ceremony for indigenous language promotion.
Parents should consider children’s needs when planning their schedules based on their age, Pan said.
People should never stop learning, so parents should focus on balancing their children’s mental and physical needs, he said.
The cram school’s Facebook post prompted some parenting groups to call for it to be reported as a child abuse case.
Sleeping so little every day is not good for a child’s growth, National Alliance of Parents’ Organizations chairman Hsiao Tung-yuan (蕭東原) said.
The alliance sees many cases in which parents organize too many activities for their children, even if it is not clear the child actually enjoys them, Hsiao said.
Most children try to comply with their parents’ wishes, especially prior to junior-high school, but if the pressure is too great, it creates conflict when they become teenagers, he said.
Self-directed study and play is important for elementary-school-age children, sometimes teaching more than school does, he said.
“Classes and lessons should not replace quality time with parents,” Action Alliance on Basic Education chairman Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽) said.
Many parents underestimate the importance of free time, Wang said, adding that Felix and Jenny’s schedule left no time for interaction, reflection or play.
The Taipei Department of Education said it had asked the children’s school to look into their situation.
The school said that they were doing well and were healthy, adding that it would continue to monitor their progress.
While parents have great expectations for their children, adequate sleep has been proven to correlate with growth and academic performance, the department said, calling on parents to allow their children sufficient time to sleep.
Cram school owners should take care when sharing photographs and names of minors, as it might put undue exposure and stress on the children, it added.
Additional reporting by Yang Mien-chieh and Kan Meng-lin
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