Children learn how to use a makeshift bamboo raft during the Huan luyen quy tu (Training Coddled Children) trip by Hong Bang Tourist Company.

“I learned that however talented a person is, they can’t be successful or lead a meaningful life without good ethics and teamwork,” the teenage girl said.

Tam had taken part in a one-week camping trip at the Ho Chi Minh City Cadet School in Cu Chi District as part of a program organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Culture House.

A teenage boy from District 1 also said the program had changed his outlook on the world.

“It’s the first time I thought about making plans for my life. I learned that things like money are not the purpose, but only the means,” the boy, who wished to stay unnamed, said.

The course, Teen Nang Dong @.com, literally means Active Teen @.com, which plays off the common name given to the generation of Vietnamese in their late teens and early twenties: the “@” generation. Several others camps like it, each offering their own experiences and skills-training, have sprung up across the southland.

Many experts have expressed delight in the new trend of skills-based summer camps.

Ho Thieu Hung, former director of the city’s Department of Education and Training, said it was good that parents paid more attention to life-skills training for their children.

Vietnam’s education system is too academic and ignores things like life-skills, he said.

“Society has realized the problem.”

Boot camp

Launched on June 16, the one-week Teen Nang Dong @.com trip took 104 students between 13 and 19 years old through regimented military-style physical training (anyone late or failing certain tasks would have to do push-ups) that also employed group discussions and responsibility over daily chores as community-building exercises.

Divided into groups of six, each sharing one cabin, the kids also had to do all daily housework, including laundry, on their own. The experience was the exact opposite of their home life, where their mothers often do everything for them, said several of the kids.

Some nights, instructors would awake the squads for “midnight operations” in which their eyes would be covered for a single file walk through the forest. All they could do for guidance was put their hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them.

Expressing themselves

While the teenagers found the military drills difficult but rewarding, they found the social-skills training sessions and discussion groups enjoyable.

One session addressed how to control one’s feelings and emotions, a significant challenge for most teenagers. Instructor Tuong Vy asked the students to draw pictures symbolizing different feelings.

She then divided them into three groups to discuss the feelings and how best to express and cope with them. When talking about anger, Vy grabbed a balloon and popped it suddenly.

“We should not keep negative feelings pent up inside,” she said.

Step-by-step she gave them lessons on how to think positively and how to act calmly and rationally through a host of games.

Bui Thanh Liem from the HCMC Youth Culture House said the trip aimed to equip the teenagers with awareness, discipline and the skills to live confidently as well as use teamwork.

“We focus especially on social and psychological skills like controlling feelings, overcoming crises and preventing abuse,” he said.

No place like home

The Center of Culture and Sports for Southern Teenagers recently held another one-week trip in the beach town of Phan Rang.

Joined by 80 students between 10- 16 years old nationwide, the Hi Teacher camp took kids to the countryside in the central province of

Ninh Thuan, with a focus on sharing with the kids knowledge about culture and nature.

The children were divided into groups of between three and five to live with local Cham families.

They got up at 5:30 a.m. every day to follow their hosts to the market and then to do the cooking, washing and other housework.

Twelve-year-old Do Tan Khai from the central town of Quy Nhon, said he had never done those things.

“It’s the first time I ever did laundry. It was so exhausting that I ended up stomping on the clothes with my feet to wash them,” Khai said.

Tran Sy Son from Hanoi also said he had never done any housework. “But now I feel much more grown-up and love my parents more than ever after the trip.”

Besides being asked to do housework chores, the students also had chances to learn about Cham culture through making pottery, weaving, and planting grapes.

They also learned to appreciate the natural environment and how to best protect it through nature outings.

More to be done

Nguyen Dac Vinh, head the Vietnamese Students Association, said although the trend in life-skills training is spreading from HCMC through the country via camping strips and outdoor retreats, the excursions currently meet just 10 percent of the demand for such activities.

With fees of about VND 1 million (US$56.21) per trip, only middle class Vietnamese can afford the camps, while lower income students are also in need.

Huynh Van Son, dean of the Psychology Department of the HCMC University of Education, was concerned that the trend may be temporary, as not all parents and youngsters were aware of how important proper life skills were.

He was also worried that as the number of such camps expands, proper human resources, such as well-trained instructors, may fall by the wayside.

VietNamNet/TN