Friends in need

For 34-year-old mother Zhu Huiqin, her best teacher is her son - five and a half-year-old Bai Chen.

She clearly recalls four months ago, when she was having some problems and crying at home, it was her son who taught her to paint a garbage can and throw all her troubles in it.

"It was a huge surprise," Zhu says, explaining that she used to think that small children understood little about life. "But this time he showed me a creative way of coping with problems and it was a great help at the time."

However, another question came to her mind. "I didn't know how he figured it out," the mother tells China Business Weekly.

But when the little boy gave her a colorful book called Zippy and His Friends, his mother understood.

The book uses stories and activities to teach children how to face and deal with problems in their lives.

It's just a part of the Zippy's Friends Program, which focuses on mental health and emotional issues for children aged 5 to 6.

After six years in 13 countries, Zippy's Friends has helped more than 200,000 young children improve their emotional health. The World Health Organization endorses the program.

Zippy's Friends teaches children skills in facing changes and new environments, avoiding and removing conflicts, build and keep good relationships by cooperating and communicating with others and sharing their feelings.

It's all taught through simple stories based on real experiences of children using Zippy, a loveable stick insect that helps them through troubles such as disappointment, loneliness, separation, and even sickness and death.

Since 2004, with support from Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and an investment of HK$9 million, the Zippy's Friends Program has been running in China, benefiting children in 380 kindergartens in Hong Kong and in 90 kindergartens in Shanghai.

During the next three years - from 2008 to 2011 - Beijing will join in HSBC's strategy of running Zippy's Friends Program. With an additional investment of HK$2.92 million, over 140 kindergartens in Beijing will participate with help from HSBC, Hong Kong Institute of Education and the China National Institute for Educational Research (CNIER).

More than 12,300 children in Beijing will have the chance to learn from the program.

Zippy's Friends uses an educational curriculum to link children with kindergartens and families, according to Chris Bale, director of Partnership for Children, which is a charitable organization from the UK and the initiator of the Zippy's Friends Program.

"It's designed to encourage both teachers and parents. We want to inspire teachers and parents to pay more attention to children's mental health," says Bale. "We also believe it will also be helpful for adults to create a healthier emotional situation by attending the program."

"It is more necessary than ever to promote children's mental health," says Tian Huisheng, vice-director of CNIER.

China's fast developing society has already posed greater challenges to children, such as pressure and competition, as well as some accidents, says Tian. However, both parents and teachers are focused on children's intellectual development and ignore the development of mental health and social skills.

"Rather than waiting until problems become severe, the skills of coping with problems should be taught to children in their early life," Tian says.

The target of running Zippy's Friends Program is not to simply tell children how to deal with the problems, Bale notes, but to encourage them to find their own ways to cope. "We teach the children how to think about the situations and guide them to find their own way of coping with difficulties."

It's hoped that on their own and by using different ways that the children will grow up to live more successful and happier lives, Bale says.

"Helping children to build up a healthy mental environment is necessary for their whole lives, and especially a benefit for a healthy society," says Liu Ru, head of the Beijing Beihai Kindergarten.

Tian adds: "We hope running Zippy's Friends in Beijing will contribute to its further operation in China's other cities, especially in western China and some rural areas in the future."

(China Daily 11/03/2008 page8)