Free Play, What's That?

Allowing children to play on their own fosters creativity and communication

It's pretty shocking when Hong Kong parents claim it's important for their children to have free play, but in reality don't understand what it means.

According to Unicef, free play is letting children play on their own without any instruction -- not the use of electronic devices, or extracurricular activities like sports. During free play, children should have the freedom to do what they want in order to help develop their senses, communication and creativity.

Playing sports does not constitute free play...

However, in a survey the Hong Kong branch of Unicef conducted, 99 percent of 1,029 parents claimed their children had free play time, but 84 percent misunderstood what it was.

Dr Maggie Koon May-kay, chief principal of Causeway Bay Victoria Kindergarten and International Nursery says parents think sports lessons like practicing football constitutes free play.

"A lot of parents have the mindset that they are letting their children play through these activities, but the children have to listen and follow the instructors during these sessions," she said.

Just over half the parents surveyed also thought playing with electronic devices was free play, but that too involves following instructions. Koon says parents should give children at least an hour of free play, and suggested the government improve the quality of playgrounds in the city.

... neither does playing with electronic devices mean free play

Children's lives are so heavily programmed in Hong Kong that it seems almost impossible for them to even have free time once a day, but perhaps only on the weekend. While these children live stressful lives, the ironic thing is that their parents feel bad putting them through it, but believe this is the only way to get ahead in life.

If parents don't even understand what free play is, what hope is there of having children who won't be depressed and be creative and communicative?

Regina's Bumbling Start

Yesterday Regina Ip announced she will run for Hong Kong's top job

Ah Regina, you're one of the first out of the gate, but not many are impressed with your campaign start so far.

Yesterday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee formally announced her candidacy for the next chief executive with the slogan "Win Back Hong Kong".

But many wondered why the need to win it back? From whom?

There was also a major blunder with the Chinese version of the slogan. Trying to be clever, in the character "win" or "yeng", the bottom part was removed to put the English word "win", but then the upper part of the character is associated with death... was she making a premonition?

Critics say she has a few errors in her campaign slogan...

Apparently the English version of her platform is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, which does not bode well, nor the fact that while she was keen to give the impression she was sporty, she proposed Hong Kong bid for the 2021 National Games. But in fact it was already announced November last year that the annual athletic games would be held in Shaanxi province.

Someone didn't do their fact checking.

Other than that, during her 45-minute presentation, Ip made no effort to try to make herself more personable or friendly, talking about her background to demonstrate her motivation to want to run.

Instead she launched straight into the nine policy areas she would tackle, such as land supply and public finance, and education. Ip also wants to bring back Article 23 to the Legislative Council to pass. Good luck with that...

Even members of the audience didn't seem that enthusiastic about what she had to offer. There is also the lack of heavyweights who attended yesterday's event, aside from former chief secretary David Akers-Jones, who seems to have weird choices in who he thinks is best for the job. His last choice was Leung Chun-ying...

After the announcement, Ip took questions from the media, but eyebrows were raised when a TVB reporter asked a question in English, but Ip replied in Cantonese.

Maybe she was nervous?

Where's Hong Kong's Olympic Drive?

Big dreams for Joseph Schooling (right) when he met Michael Phelps in 2008

The Summer Games in Rio are over tomorrow, but Hong Kong came home empty handed this year, raising questions of what went wrong, and why Singapore won its first gold medal ever with Joseph Schooling easily beating Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly.

Chef de mission Kenneth Fok Kai-kong tried to spin the negative outcome by saying Hong Kong people should avoid looking at Olympic medals as the be all and end all of sporting achievement, adding it was impossible to put a value on intangible benefits of our athletes at international sporting events.

His father Timothy saw Sarah Lee Wai-sze win bronze four years ago in London, and Lee Lai-shan clinch gold 20 years ago in windsurfing in Atlanta.

Kenneth Fok tries to manage Hong Kong's disappointment

Some bright spots in these Games have been Siobhan Haughey, who was the first Hong Kong female swimmer to qualify for an Olympic semi-final, and golfer Tiffany Chan Tsz-ching who worked hard to stay in the game.

Trying to put a brave face on Hong Kong's performance in Rio won't be enough for the Hong Kong public to wonder if athletes aren't given enough resources in terms of training facilities and coaches. The city's new commissioner for sport Yeung Tak-keung put things into perspective, saying Hong Kong has won three medals since first competing in 1952.

What does that say about the priority of sport in the city, and the tiny talent pool we have here?

It starts from parenting and the school system that encourages playing sports, and building talent from the grassroots level, and encouraging kids to continue playing, running, jumping, dribbling, kicking and so on.

Sarah Lee (left) came home empty handed this year

When parents tell their kids they should study than exercise, it's the wrong message -- sports can help them excel in academics, being more disciplined, more focused and more cooperative in working with others. These skills carry on into their working lives.

But it's going to take a long time for attitudes to change and realize academics and sports go hand in hand.

The more children take up sports, the bigger the talent pool and competition to be the best.

How did Schooling do it? In 2008 he took a picture with Phelps in Beijing, with the hopes that one day he would be just as good as his hero.

That is an Olympic dream come true.

Do Hong Kong athletes have the same drive?

The soul searching begins... again.