Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 28 (Reporter Ma Bangjie) The new crown virus is ravaging the world. The European Championships, the Olympic Games and many games around the world have been postponed or cancelled, and the international sports arena has been greatly disturbed. However, during the epidemic, for thousands of young Chinese parents, the European Championships, Olympics and other sports events are too far away, and they have more worrying things around them.

Zhao Jingtian is a young mother who lives in Yichang, Hubei. Her son Liu Shengbo is 5 years old this year. Before the outbreak, they guarded the mountains and rivers, and lived a happy life. "In the past, we used to ride bicycles and play balance bikes by the river. Although the children are young, they like sports." Zhao Jingtian told reporters via WeChat.

A bird’s eye view of Yichang, issued by Xinhua News Agency

 

   

But the epidemic broke their peaceful lives. The breeze on the river and the bright moon in the mountains turn into a house family watching TV, playing with toys, or staring at each other.

“We have been quarantining at home since the end of January. We haven’t been out for activities for many days. It’s been almost two months now. It’s actually quite uncomfortable. But we must start from the overall situation of epidemic prevention and control, and do it for ourselves and others. It’s good to stay at home, and it’s normal to be aggrieved. When the child didn’t understand what happened at first, he was very upset, cried, and wanted to go out to play. Later, when he understood what was going on, he accepted his fate.” At this point, Zhao Jingtian sent a smiling face to the reporter on WeChat, feeling more like a helpless wry smile.

"Compared to children, I think adults are more impatient." She continued.

During the epidemic, Zhao Jingtian lived with her children and her parents-in-law in a large house with 4 bedrooms. She said that at the beginning of the home isolation, the children could still be taken to "do homework, watch TV, play with toys, and pat the ball", but later "I really don't know what to do at home." She said: "Then we are quarantined with the elderly, and if the elderly is pampered, he will inevitably be willful and disobedient, watching TV all day, and lawless."

Zhao Jingtian encountered the dilemma encountered by many Chinese parents with children during the epidemic: how to prevent the children who are isolated at home from being bored, irritable, and addicted to TV and mobile games?

Kong Rongping, principal of Zhaohui Kindergarten in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, told reporters that more than 700 families served by her kindergarten have encountered the same problem. She said: "To be honest, during the epidemic, it is inevitable for children and parents to be depressed if they cannot go out. Many children are very active. How to get them physical and mental exercise is a challenge for us and many parents."

Xin Yanjun, president of the Shenzhen Orienteering Association, who has been committed to children's fitness, also discovered this problem. On February 10, he went to work at his company on the first day after the Spring Festival. He gathered information from various branches and found that children in most parts of the country stayed at home to fight the epidemic. They saw that there was a restless market hidden here, so after a few days of planning, they launched a home orientation competition called "Targeted Fighting Epidemic, Healthy China" on February 19 and commissioned the All China Sports Federation to host it.

Home Orientation Contest Home Page

Xin Yanjun has been engaged in the orienteering industry for nearly 20 years. In the past, his company mainly focused on R&D and sales of equipment. After the State Council’s "Several Opinions on Accelerating the Development of the Sports Industry and Promoting Sports Consumption" was issued in 2014, their company moved from the sale of equipment to the field of organizing competitions and providing services. Driven by market forces represented by them, orienteering has gained rapid popularity in China, and the number of beneficiaries continues to increase. Orienteering associations have been established in many parts of the country.

Yi Lili, the president of the Yichang Orienteering Association, is a successful local business person, a fan of orienteering, and a like-minded friend of Xin Yanjun. After seeing the news of the "Targeted War Epidemic, Healthy China" Home Orientation Competition, she quickly promoted it through various online tools. There are more than 70 sports associations across the country, such as the Zhejiang Preschool Sports Association and other enthusiastic promotion of the event with her.

So, this event was delivered to Zhao Jingtian and Kong Rongping through the Internet and other channels.

When Zhao Jingtian was in school, he experienced a garbage sorting activity organized by the Yichang Orientation Association, and he had a little understanding of this project. She found that this home orientation competition can just solve the problem of having nothing to do at home and being bored and irritable during the epidemic. In this way, under the guidance of the information provided by the game organizer, she took the children to participate. I like the rogue most in children, the child's restless nature is released, and the life at home is restored to life.

She draws pictures with her son and arranges indoors by herself. She devised two routes. The first one is what she called the "scheming route" that added her own thoughts. For example, she designed a question at check-in point A: where to put the storybook after reading it? After the son finds this point, he will happily learn and accept the answer provided by the check-in point when he is excited: on the bookshelf.

Zhao Jingtian said: "Since the outbreak, we have all lived with the elderly, and the children are almost lawless in terms of living habits. Therefore, through the punch-in game, I hope that he can regain his good living habits and know when. What to do."

The second route is the "sports route", which is carried out strictly in accordance with the competition, with grandpa, grandma and children competing together. Zhao Jingtian found that her son was very serious in every game, and after a few games he even learned to calm himself down in a panic.

 

 

"This kind of competition exercises children's awareness of rules and ability to resist stress." She said, "I care more about parent-child interaction. This game really kills the time. From drawing pictures with children to playing games, we played a whole afternoon. Not watching TV all afternoon is really the thing I feel most proud of this holiday."

Zhao Jingtian said that her son is now a fan of orienteering, and he always pesters his mother to play orienteering almost every day. She said: "Our Orienteering Association organizes activities in parks and scenic spots on weekends and other times. After the epidemic is over, I want to take my children to play. On weekends, we can't just go to training classes and watch TV."

Unlike Zhao Jingtian, Kong Rongping, as the head of the kindergarten, has the advantage of being a group. She is training a group of fans of orienteering.

Zhaohui Kindergarten sends home-oriented game content on the official account every Monday. Prior to this, Kong Rongping invited orientated experts to train kindergarten physical education teachers online, and then the physical education teachers would train parents online. As a result, they launched a lively home orientation activity during the epidemic.

 

A home orientation map made by a child from Hangzhou Zhaohui Kindergarten

 

On the homepage of the Home Orientation Contest of "Targeted Fighting Epidemic, Healthy China", the home page of the home orientation competition is showing competition videos sent by contestants from all over the world. The works with the highest popularity index are from Zhaohui Kindergarten.

This home orienteering competition has various forms. It can be played in a small room, orienteering in the "Nine-squares game", but also in a big house or a yard. Therefore, the content of the works submitted by the contestants is diverse and exciting.

The children of Zhaohui Kindergarten should thank them for having a principal who understands orienteering. Kong Rongping told reporters that she went to Beijing for directional training in the summer vacation last year and found that this sports program is very good for cultivating children's concentration, spatial thinking, awareness of rules, willpower and physical health. To this end, she used the summer vacation last year to inspect forest education in the five Nordic countries at her own expense, focusing on orienteering. "I want to see how local children participate in orientation." She said.

Since the "Targeted Fighting Epidemic, Healthy China" Home Orienteering Contest started on March 19, it has received more than 480 entries from all over the country, with more than 380,000 web page views. Xin Yanjun said that he did not expect this game to be so popular with everyone. "We were satisfied with our original estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 page views. We did not expect that there would be so many. If we could help even one child, we would be very satisfied."

The video submitted by the contestants showed that one after another naughty and active children were educated and happy in this orienteering competition.

In the public account of Zhaohui Kindergarten, the message board of each orientation activity is filled with words of thanks and praise, both for parents and children:

Sun Liangyong: "It's great, the kids have never forgotten the last directional activity, and I look forward to organizing it again!"

Candy mother: "Simple and fun directional game, there are games to accompany children to play."

Yang Jiani: "The beasts are all moving."

Child Yang Rui: "I want to hurry to Monday every time now, because there are fun directional games to play again."

Video: Provided by Shenzhen Orienteering Association

Text editor: Zheng Zhi

New media editor: Ma Bangjie, Lin Deren

Issued by: Li Li

(The article is reproduced from Xinhua News Agency, if there is any infringement, please contact to delete)