Honestly, helping children discover their interests and strengths and encouraging them to explore and deepen in their favorite areas should be something parents should do from the time their children are born, but what Chinese parents usually do is not to make their babies special, but to become just like everyone else. The biggest problem with Chinese students is that there is no difference between this student and that student,” says an examiner at a prestigious American school. Their SAT and TOEFL scores are often very good, but their application materials are exactly the same, their specialties are playing piano, dancing, painting and so on, with no characteristics; their essays are even written by a thousand people, with childish views and mediocre expressions, showing the poverty of their imagination and the rigidity of their thinking; they look like robots produced by the same factory.” An American in charge of study abroad consulting specializes in teaching Chinese students by hand how to apply to Ivy League schools with a hundred hits. He says, “Harvard receives tens of thousands of student applications every year, but only a very small number of people get accepted, and it’s often not the best grades that are chosen, but the most exceptional.” He does study abroad consulting for Chinese students, charging upwards of 100,000 yuan a year, mainly to help each child find his or her own uniqueness and build his or her own brand – for example, some children focus on charity, so they can find creative ways to be charitable and gradually grow into “teen philanthropists “Some children like to write, so you can encourage them to start a middle school magazine and invite students from all schools to submit articles. You want to stand out from the thousands of applications, you have to set yourself apart,” he says. First determine what you like, then focus on that thing, no matter how insignificant it is, and excel in that area to show your unique self.” Assisting children in discovering their interests and strengths and encouraging them to explore and deepen in their favorite areas should be something parents should do from the moment their children are born, but what Chinese parents usually do is not to make their babies special, but to become just like everyone else. Other people’s children are learning English, so we have to learn it too; other people’s children are taking piano lessons, so we can’t lag behind. By being like everyone else, they will feel more secure because China has always encouraged everyone to be mediocre, to fit in, to be consistent, to be the same. I’ve judged several baby competitions and I can honestly say that during the audition stage, most of the kids’ performances were ugly and tedious. Hundreds of children, either reciting Tang poems, and all are “the light of the moon in front of the bed”; or walking models, the same posture and expression; or telling stories, shaking head amplitude are similar. In fact, every child has his or her own interests and strengths, but parents have a very narrow understanding of interests, in addition to painting, music, dancing and other mainstream hobbies, the rest is nonsense – the child has a variety of possibilities, all stifled. Two children, both interested in insects as children, both loved Faber’s “Insects” and went to play in the neighborhood yard every day, lying on the ground to observe ants, catching grasshoppers in the grass, and bringing caterpillars home to study – one of them was reprimanded by his parents and could only read, learn arithmetic, and play the violin at home every day, and after a few years, he After a few years, he grew up to be a dull-eyed child. They accompanied him to various insect museums, collected butterfly specimens, and took DV pictures of spiders. Now this child has formed an insect interest group in his class and regularly publishes an “Insect Handbook” every month, taking responsibility for photos, text, and layout. Many boys like airplanes, cars, rockets, guns, tanks, but how many parents really serious about these hobbies? In Shenzhen, some children have been taken by their fathers to see various air shows, read many aviation professional magazines, and at the age of 9, they can dictate the history of the world’s aviation development; some children are only 10 years old, and are already senior military fans, writing to Obama to ask him to stop arms sales to Japan – behind them, there must be wise and far-sighted parents. Like most boys, my 4-year-old Wei Tang has been a fan of trains and rockets since he was a child. We accompanied him to railroad museums, science and technology museums, and space museums in major cities; bought him a lot of information on trains or rockets; ordered Japanese professional train magazines; watched train or rocket-themed documentaries with him; and I, a space knowledge illiterate, worked hard with him on various professional issues, such as his recent concern: “If Shenzhou IX encounters problems in space There is no space lifeboat prepared to save the astronauts it ……” Even Vai Tang especially like Ferris wheel, we are very respectful, take him to ride the Ferris wheel around, feel the difference of each Ferris wheel. Many people would say, “Aren’t all Ferris wheels the same?” Wrong! Guangzhou’s Ferris wheel is on the roof of a building; Singapore’s Ferris wheel is the world’s largest and you can also eat steak on it; Shanghai’s Ferris wheel is in Jinjiang Paradise, which is especially retro; Wuxi’s Ferris wheel is at the water’s edge …… Next we plan to take him to Japan and London to ride the Ferris wheel. If Vaitang wants, maybe he can write a book at age 10 called “Reading the City from the Ferris Wheel” or something. Parents will ask, “What’s the point of that? It’s not like you can get extra points on the college entrance exam.” Yes, but don’t you think that’s cool? Recently, when I applied for the college entrance exam, many students came to me and asked, “What major should I apply for?” I said, “First of all, you have to think about what you like.” Most of them answered that they didn’t know what they were interested in or what they were good at – parents are responsible for their children’s lack of interest and specialties because they missed various sensitive periods when they were young, didn’t take the trouble to discover the unique part of their child’s nature, and didn’t assist their children in amplifying what makes them special. To turn a child from special to mediocre, parents only need to have a few characteristics such as blindness, followership, and laziness. There is a saying that goes, “All people are born original and slowly live as pirated copies.” And we, as parents, often accidentally become pirate producers.