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April 21, 2015

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Outward bound! Parents expose kids to life experiences

Five years ago, when her daughter Xiao Mi was two years old, Minhang mother Su Yi started taking her on trips. The idea was to expose the youngster to the wider world so she could see and experience new things first-hand.

The idea caught on with other parents. Su now operates a subscription WeChat account called Mi Xing Tian Xia, which means “Xiao Mi going around the world.” It forms the basis of an organization that arranges extracurricular activities for parents and young children.

“When I was a child, the headmaster of my high school said that the two most important things in life are reading and travel,” said Su. “His words have remained with me and shaped my life. It’s something I want to pass on to my daughter and to other families.”

Su said she and her husband were avid hikers before getting married. Now, when they take Xiao Mi on a trip, they also bring books to help their daughter learn about new places.

“In the beginning, I shared some of our travel experiences on my WeChat account,” said Su. “I put the hashtag ‘Mi Xing Tian Xia’ on every post, and that’s how the subscription account came to be. The posts seemed to generate a lot of attention.”

The group’s activities on weekends and holidays all aim to go outside the traditional education mode and give children the opportunity to look and discover new things by themselves.

“In our traditional education system, children absorb knowledge and facts passively by rote,” said Su. “We hope that we can change that because children need to develop a capacity for independent thinking.”

Because the family traveled so much, it was impossible for Xiao Me to attend pre-school classes on weekends to learn Mandarin pinyin, mathematics or English. When the youngster started first grade, most children in her class knew more than she did.

“We told her that mom and dad would face the challenge together with her,” Su said. “And fortunately, she had good teachers. She could keep up with other children at school, but she was not among the top students.”

In Su’s opinion, what Xiao Mi learned while traveling was as important as the knowledge imparted in her textbooks.

“She has been meeting different people since she was very young, so she’s never afraid to make new friends,” she said. “And what’s more important, she’s very independent.”

Other parents like the concept.

Zhang Qianli and his wife are active in the Su’s organization. He said Mi Xing Tian Xia gave him direction on weekend activities that proved helpful to children.

“Basically we have events every weekend, most of which are free,” said Zhang. “It seems that my child’s personality has blossomed a lot, and we believe that is truly a good thing.”

Activities Mi Xing Tian Xia has organized:

Long trips out of town every weekend are impossible, but Shanghai itself provides interesting opportunities for outings.

Late last year, Mi Xing Tian Xia organized a hike along Suzhou Creek with a non-government organization called Dashingo. The children were shows parts of the city they had never seen before.

The 7.6-kilometer journey started at the Shanghai Railway Station and ended at the East China University of Political Science and Law.

“It took nearly three hours,” said Su. “Many children were very excited by what they experienced.”

For the Spring Festival Holiday, 10 families traveled to a remote area of Guizhou Province to spend a traditional Chinese New Year among ethnic minorities.

“We had a lot of difficulties during the journey because living conditions in the mountains were hard, but the experience the children gained was priceless,” said Su.

Families in the organization have visited nearly 10 museums and multinational companies.

They have learned about traditional Chinese herbal medicine, movie-making, glass production and even what goes into a can of Coke.

On sunny day outings, children learn kayaking and how to kick soccer balls.

“We always try to find professionals to participate in our events to give the children a true learning experience,” said Su.

Teaching children to give of themselves to others is also important to the group. Activities include participating in charity sales, visiting homes for the elderly and reading to blind children.

“It was amazing to see the young children take to charity sales,” said Su.

She said the children offered ideas on how goods should be arranged on booths, and eagerly told buyers how the income from the sales would go to people in need.

The children also created a show to perform for senior citizens. They devised dancing and dialogue by themselves, Su said.

“The youngest ‘artist’ on stage was four years old, and his performance was one of the most popular in the show,” she said.

The project of reading stories to blind children came from Xiao Mi herself.

“I once told her the story of my own experience reading books for blind children when I was a college student,” said Su. “She was anxious not to wait so long to do the same thing.”

The project has had an enthusiastic response from parents.

“Some of the children are too young to read clearly,” Sue said, “so their parents said they could take part in the project by donating books. It’s all been very touching.”




 

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