Labor Day, dedicated to all workers

Caption:

Originally, I wanted to send it out on Labor Day, but I hurried home without a computer. After returning, I continued to rush the draft, and today I handed in the manuscript that I promised to submit before the holiday. Only then did I idle to take care of the public name that had not been updated for a long time.

This article is a guide to Zheng Chunhua's "Great Profession" series of picture books that was invited to write, but it is also something I have always wanted to say about kindergarten social role play, career-related theme games, etc.

May Day Labor Day, of course, should let children understand that labor is the most glorious, labor is not just washing socks, cooking, sweeping the floor, the most glorious people in their families, are early out of the night to work hard in exchange for a family of food and clothing, is a meticulous family to take care of the family living.

The so-called occupation, labor, and future are not necessarily so noble and idealistic, although many "houlang" have taken wandering as the most romantic ideal, but most ordinary people still regard food and clothing, livelihood, and marrying and having children as more important connotations of life. Although poetry and the distance are beautiful, it is better to start by cherishing the chai rice oil and salt in front of you.

The following is the main text

Understanding cherishing and longing for persistence – how we talk to our children about career ideals

Read The Fantastic Picture Book – The Amazing Career Series

Young children learn by observing, imitating, and trial and error. They seem to be playing inconsequential games, but they are secretly imitating the rules and values they observe the adult world in action.

The earliest occupations that children imitate are usually mothers and teachers. When you see a small child holding a doll and coaxing him to sleep; stir-fry a pot of leaves with a tire and a branch for lunch; or let baby bears and baby bunny dolls sit in a row and listen to their own "lectures"... That's when they fantasize about becoming a mom or a teacher, doing exactly what they're supposed to do—that's their profession.

Children will choose to imitate what characters and behaviors to play in the game, first of all because of familiarity, because there are more opportunities for contact (whether in real life, or in anime, literature, film and television works), and there is also an important factor is that the character and behavior are highly praised by society. When a character and behavior are more well received, the child is more willing to play him in role games. For example, when children play the game of the police catching thieves, they are often reluctant to play the thief, but are willing to play the police; when playing the game of doctors and patients, they are unwilling to play the patient but willing to play the doctor. Even young children will link their careers with good and bad, right and wrong, because they are in the embryonic process of social value formation, whether it is gender stereotypes or occupational stereotypes, which will deeply affect their choice of game roles, and the game process will in turn deepen their stereotypes, a phenomenon that will not slowly change until the middle and late stages of childhood.

Adults often half-jokingly ask children what profession they want to do when they grow up, and of course we know that children do not have basic common sense about the nature of work, social status, qualifications, etc. of a certain occupation, but this kind of question is often answered very seriously by children. They tend to talk about celebrities, cops, doctors, teachers, scientists, bosses, mayors, Olympic champions, and some say mom, dad, bread sellers, cooks, and so on. If we have the patience to continue to ask why, we can further understand our children's understanding of careers. Some children's career ideals come from compensatory psychology, such as wanting to eat bread, but the mother does not buy it, so I think that if I can be a bread seller, I will not lack bread to eat; for example, if I want to be a chef, I can make my favorite food every day. Other children's career aspirations come from envying a certain career highlight, such as stars shining on the stage, praised doctors, scientists, policemen, athletes, and so on. At this time, the children not only want to imitate the behavior of these people in the game, but also hope to become people like them, and also get praise and recognition from others.

However, real careers are not always in the highlights, and the professions of the vast majority of ordinary people are not on the stage and podium, but in the daily life of obscurity day and night. Do children need to know the professions of ordinary people, and how do they know?

The "Guide to learning and development of children aged 3-6 years" issued by the Ministry of Education divides young children's awareness of occupation into social development goals. We hope that children learn to get along with others, learn to look at themselves correctly, treat others, and continuously develop the ability to adapt to social life; we hope that children can gain a sense of security and trust in positive and healthy interpersonal relationships, develop self-confidence and self-esteem, learn to abide by the rules in a good social environment and culture, and form a basic sense of identity and belonging. People who are engaged in all walks of life may be the child's parents and relatives, or the child's neighbors and friends, or the strangers that the child comes into contact with in his daily life. Their professional attitude, professionalism, may become a factor affecting children's social understanding and social adaptation, so how do we talk to children about ordinary occupations that are not in the highlight moment but surround us?

This set of "Wonderful Picture Books - Great Career Series" created by Zheng Chunhua (Wen) Shen Yuanyuan (pictured) gives a good answer. In this set of books, there are occupations that children are familiar with—policeman, firefighter, but also occupations that children can see but rarely pay attention to—gardeners, airport ground staff, and even professions that people often don't realize—stray animal protection volunteers. They may not have the opportunity to stand on the podium and share their highlight moments with people, nor may they be generally recognized by society, and they have a high social reputation, but they really exist and make up the real society in which children live.

In this set of books, we see the everyday moments of ordinary occupations that are often not noticed by children and even adults: the day-to-day training of firefighters and the determination to be ready for disaster; the irreplaceable and trivial work and rare rest routine of police officers year after year; the hard but rarely concerned work and love of garden workers; the meager wages and ordinary dreams of airport ground staff; volunteers who start with their own feelings and then bet on the selfless dedication of society. At this point, we may not be talking about the child's professional ideals, but the children's understanding and respect for each profession that makes up society and the people who engage in this profession. Occupation is a specialized activity, an action in which people can engage in labor to obtain remuneration. When everyone is engaged in a profession, they have respect for this profession and abide by the relevant rules of this profession, only in this way will society function benignly. Because respect is serious, because obedience must be self-denial - this is the attitude of life that children must learn. Labor is worthy of respect because it produces value, for oneself and others, for the individual and society; labor creates man and also creates society. Children's games can be unserious, and they have the right to choose those behaviors that they find fun to imitate or imagine; but children's awareness of the labor efforts and fruits of others must be serious, and they should respect those who provide services for everyone and cherish the fruits of their labor. The picture book is a bridge between serious and unserious, it tells children one after another worthy of respect with a childlike tone and a child's perspective. No matter what profession they pursue, they are optimistic, positive, tenacious, full of dreams and down-to-earth. Young children need romantic fantasies and such serious discussions about careers.