CHANGCHUN, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- For Li Mingtong, a resident in Changchun in Jilin province, her biggest joy nowadays is to do exercise with her baby following an online PE class.
Due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus or NCP, a virus causing pneumonia, the government has announced to extend the Chinese New Year break in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. Consequently, Li has more time to spend with her baby.
"Although it has been fun to look after my baby on our own, it is also a headache as for what activities we can do with the baby as we rarely go out now due to the outbreak of the virus," she said, adding her parents will take care of the baby when she goes to work.
"So I am happy that I can find indoor activity instructions online," she said.
"Online early education can at least give me ideas on things we can do with the baby at home to keep our body and mind healthy," Li said.
"Education at the early childhood stage is about the movements. You must let your baby feel and experience the movements of the body. Usually parents take their children to the early education center, leaving them to the teacher. Now at home, they must learn how to interact with their children," said Liu Ping, head of Patton International Childhood Education Center in Changchun. Her early education center used to have more than 70 members, and now the figures is over 100 after it launched the online early education program free of charge.
The current NCP outbreak forced Liu to shut her early education center for now, but she is given an opportunity to develop the online program.
"We arrange 30 minutes of video lecturing every Tuesday to Saturday that covers the baby's fine and gross motor skills and music perception, showing parents how to help their baby grow through games and exercises."
"At ordinary times, online early education plays more of an auxiliary role. Lectures during this time aim to make young parents change their mind and understand the importance of quality time parents spend with their baby to the baby's growth," she said.
In the WeChat group chat of "Online Early Education Classroom", parents are actively sharing videos of taking their baby to the "PE class", which not only allows parents to supervise and learn from each other, but also makes many parents experience the fun of looking after their children.
"Usually I'm busy with work, but during this 'leisure time' I have learned how to play with my child and I have more felt the satisfaction of watching my child grow and progress," Li said.
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