For the past few months, since her youngest son - Anh Khoi entered first grade, Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen (39 years old, Long Bien, Hanoi) has often received text messages from her homeroom teacher complaining about her son's writing being like a chicken scratch.

The teacher said that Anh Khoi had the worst handwriting in the class, so it was very difficult to grade his papers, while everyone else wrote beautifully and clearly. The teacher even advised parents to take their children to practice writing to improve.

Unlike most other parents who are eager to find handwriting classes for their children, Ms. Yen believes that it is normal for a child to have bad handwriting when they are just starting first grade. As long as the child reads well and is good at math, whether the handwriting is good or bad is not important.

“Why should we waste our children’s time practicing handwriting when they have so much to learn? Will good handwriting help them have good food and nice clothes in the future?”, Ms. Yen said.

According to the female parent, beautiful handwriting is no longer suitable for modern trends, when people mainly work on digital devices, no longer holding a pen as carefully as before. Not to mention that people with beautiful handwriting mostly write very slowly, taking a lot of time. If you go out into society and are slow, taking forever to finish writing, it is even more unacceptable.

“When my child is a little older, I will send him to learn how to type quickly on a computer. From my own work experience, I see that these are the necessary skills in the 4.0 era. In addition, my child needs to learn more Math to practice concentration and logical thinking. As for practicing beautiful handwriting, it is... free,” said the female parent.

In another situation, Ms. Dong Thu Hue (46 years old, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi) was invited by a colleague to take her 5th grade son to a calligraphy training center to "be more successful".

“ My colleague said that nowadays many children are sent by their parents to preschool, so their handwriting is very beautiful. Our children’s handwriting is still bad, and they are easily judged by others. We need to send them to centers so that teachers can train their character, will, and mind, helping them develop more comprehensively and become more successful,” Ms. Hue said. After that, she refused her colleague’s offer.

She admitted that her son's handwriting was worse than his peers, but for the past 4 years, he has been an excellent student and his academic results are often at the top of the class.

“Isn’t that enough success? How much more well-rounded do you want your child to be?” , the female parent said that her colleague, like many other parents, was just using the saying “handwriting reflects character” to argue why children should be taught to write beautifully.

Giving specific evidence, Ms. Hue mentioned her younger brother, who is currently an IT engineer at a large corporation.

According to Ms. Dao Thi Binh, a teacher at Tan Phong Primary School (Thai Binh), handwriting is not a measure of personality. Not everyone who diligently practices handwriting will later become a model citizen, careful and thoughtful, and not everyone who writes badly is careless and lacks perseverance. Success comes from hard work, determination and perseverance throughout the long journey.

“However, parents should not underestimate the practice of beautiful handwriting, because the benefits it brings are undeniable. Consider this an extracurricular activity, encouraged for gifted children. If the child can write clearly and with enough strokes, parents should not waste time on teaching their child beautiful handwriting if the child does not want to,” Ms. Binh emphasized.

Sharing the same view, MSc. Nguyen Thi Mai Anh, Deputy Director of the Institute of Humanistic Psychology, said that throughout the history of Vietnam as well as developed countries such as England, America, Russia, and France, writing has always been important, considering it the basis for preserving the nation's culture.

The saying "handwriting reflects character" is very true in the process of teaching children to write. Practicing beautiful handwriting brings many benefits: cultivating perseverance, carefulness, and meticulousness. In addition, focusing on each stroke of the handwriting not only shows respect for the reader, but also creates cultural beauty in communication through writing.

The female expert believes that parents should not force their children to practice writing too beautifully, in a "flying dragon and dancing phoenix" style, and should not be willing to spend large sums of money for their children to go to training centers early in the morning and late at night for the sake of achievements, causing health and economic problems for the child and the family. Parents can accompany their children in practicing each stroke, by referring to scientific bases and age-appropriate handwriting standards announced by the Ministry of Education and Training.