Teach your children how to preserve school supplies

One of the problems that many parents often encounter when their children are in elementary school is losing school supplies. Books, pens, pencil cases or rulers keep mysteriously "disappearing".

"Primary school students are still young so they do not fully understand the value of personal belongings. Every few days, my son (in 4th grade) says: Mom, I lost my pen," said Ms. Bui Thi Cam Tien, a parent in Hoc Mon District (HCMC).

Parents need to be patient when teaching their children about the importance of preserving school supplies.

Some parents take precautions by buying pens to keep at home without letting their children know. Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, a parent of a 4th grader in District 10 (HCMC), shared how she helps her child take care of school supplies. "I usually buy 5 pens to keep at home without letting my child know. Every time I go to school, I only give him one pen, so he can't lose it," Ms. Lan said. In addition, she also applies a small trick: choose pens with patterns that her child likes or buy cute stickers for her child to stick on her supplies. "Thanks to that, my child takes better care of his things because they are the things he likes," she added.

In the 2018 General Education Program, lessons on preserving personal belongings are taught in subjects such as ethics from grade 2. Ms. Nguyen Hoang Duy Hieu, a teacher at Nguyen Trai Primary School (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City), shares the method she applies to her students.

According to Ms. Hieu, students can write their names or mark their own items to make it easier to identify when lost. Using pencil cases or bags to store school supplies is also a way to help students get into the habit of organizing things neatly.

"At the end of each class, teachers spend a minute asking students to check their desks, under their feet, and count the items in their boxes. Teachers remind students that they need to be responsible for preserving their school supplies, which will help save their parents money," said Ms. Hieu. To help students find lost items, Ms. Hieu also created a shared items corner in the classroom, where students can leave their found items and help their friends find them.

To help students better understand the importance of saving, Ms. Hieu gave a spending problem. "A school year has 10 months, if you only use 5 pencils and 3 erasers, the cost is only about 40,000 VND. But if you use 2 pencils and 2 erasers each week, the cost will be 20,000 VND/week, and after 35 weeks, you will spend up to 700,000 VND...", Ms. Hieu said. Through that, she advised students not to be wasteful but to appreciate school supplies, because in addition to school supplies, the family has many other expenses to pay.

Ms. Hieu also advises parents not to buy expensive items for their children, but to choose only common items.

According to Master Nguyen Khanh Chi, Training Director of GLink Academy Center (HCMC), to overcome this situation, parents should let their children choose their own belongings according to their preferences, engrave their names or mark each item. This helps children become more attached to their belongings and take responsibility for preserving them. In addition, parents should regularly teach their children to identify and name personal belongings and let them pack their own things before going to school.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/day-con-biet-cach-bao-quan-do-dung-hoc-tap-185241029151853934.htm