A RICH LIFE FOR OUR CHILDREN

These days when I meet with fellow parents, one common phrase always come up: “现在的孩子跟以前的不一样了” – children of this present generation are different from the children of the past. What follows is the usual lament on how it is difficult to teach our children now, how they are more wayward and how their thinking and temperament are so different from how we were when we were like them.

I have a different way of looking at this.

It is true that children of this generation are different. Why wouldn’t they be? Children today enjoy free access to multiple sources of information through mobile devices that follow them everywhere; they are also born into an unprecedented affluence witnessed by our country; where we had enjoyed the company of our parents or our grandparents after school, our children today go to enrichment classes, tuition, spend their after school hours at after school care centres. It is no surprise that children today are quite a different breed as compared to us when we were children ourselves.

Through my interactions with children, I find them still inquisitive, vulnerable, trusting, learning, curious. They still like bright, colourful things. They still love Elmo. They love singing and dancing. They love hugs and kisses. They still can’t really sit through a movie. Our children have not changed all that much fundamentally.

Rather than saying that our children are different, why not see it that the world has changed, and that the changed environment has made our children different from what we were?

The world has indeed changed. Degrees are becoming commonplace, entrepreneurship is a sought-after mindset not just for startups but MNCs, where holding a job does not guarantee a carefree retirement.

Do you still say to your child: “Your only goal now is to get good grades so you can get into the best schools”? How about “If you study hard you will get a good job, and that will give you a good life”? Take a step back now, how real do these statements feel to you? Today, mastery of life skills like financial literacy, behavioral competency, creative thinking are the real skills that can give your child a thriving life. Yet none of these are taught as topics in our schools. I have all the respect for academic training, but I think that it is no longer enough to prepare our children for their world ahead.

I set up Smarty Pants to specifically address this gap. We are a school that teaches children life skills. I hope to empower a generation of children with the skills and knowledge they can use to craft a thriving life for themselves. I believe in the genius of every child, and I think life skills take time to embed and nurture. The sooner we start preparing our children for the world, the more time they have to make it work for them, to give them a rich, thriving life. Let’s start the journey together now.