Journey of a Chinese-Canadian Mom

I’m a Canadian-born Chinese mom of two boys who now lives in Hong Kong. Unexpected changes in my personal life led me to revisit my passion for helping children and youth again. I was drawn to the education system in Hong Kong, where there was a huge shift for me as I had to prepare my children for school in Asia, the focus was more on academic achievements versus the well-being of the children. Understandably, the fast-paced environment, dense population, and competition made people adapt to this lifestyle. Children were learning at least one to two grades ahead of their grade; hence why my older son Ethan was learning Kindergarten (age five) material in Canada at the age of three in Hong Kong.

When my older son (age three at the time), Ethan, experienced difficulty expressing himself in Cantonese, which led to meltdowns and frustration with managing big feelings, we implemented various techniques at home, including discussing emotions in English and Chinese, Social-emotional-learning lessons to identify, express, and manage his feelings, reading stories together in both languages, focusing on phonics, which led to significant progress within months in his understanding and communication of his needs.