China

When my son was in China, one of the things he said upset him the most was the large number of beggar children. Dozens of children will encircle a foreigner in order to procure money. He said it is at times frightening. It's a strange culture creeping out of a lost century very quickly.

Shanghidaily.com

Preschool kids to get education in death, life issues
Yan Zhen
2006-05-17

MORE than 12,300 preschool children will take part in a new program teaching them how to cope with emotional difficulties, and even death.

Accepting and talking about death - a topic shunned by many Chinese - is a major and controversial part of the program being implemented over the past three years. Children may even visit graveyards.

Zippy's Friends, the education program developed by the UK-based charity Partnership for Children, began in 31 kindergartens yesterday.

It aims to compensate for lack of psychological education for children up to age 6.

Shanghai is the first mainland city to implement the program used worldwide, said officials of East China Normal University, the program implementer.

Based on the story of an insect named Zippy, the program is about a group of children facing everyday difficulties - making and keeping friends, communicating with others, loneliness, conflicts, coping with change and loss, and adapting to new environments.

Courses will be given for 30 minutes weekly in kindergartens where teachers have been trained.

Role play games

Activities, such as drawing, role-play and games, will teach children how to cope with difficulties, sadness and daily pressures.

For instance, teachers will hold group discussions about children's reactions to their parents' arguments or "cold wars."

Children might be taken to graveyards to learn about death and loss.

Zhu Jiaxiong, director of ECNU's preschool education research center, said a major aim is to develop realistic and accepting attitudes towards death.

"Chinese people always consider death something dreadful and unlucky. They always try to avoid talking about death with their children," said Zhu, adding that some parents won't take young children to grandparents' funerals.

A recent survey by ECNU suggested that 63 percent of parents were uneasy about "death education" in kindergartens. Currently, no kindergarten has systematic courses about life, death and children's psychology.

"But death education is needed to teach kids to cherish their life. That is important thing in a world of increasingly high pressure," Zhu said.