During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh always gave special love to teenagers and children. He once said: “I am not married and have no children. Vietnam is my big family. All Vietnamese children are my children.”
In 1954, the resistance war against the French colonialists triumphed, and President Ho Chi Minh moved back to live and work at the Presidential Palace. Even though he was busy with so many important jobs, he always took time to care for teenagers and children.
On the occasion of International Children's Day in 1955, Uncle Ho sent a letter to the children and officials of southern schools. He advised: “First of all, you must love and help each other, and must be closely united. Solidarity between older pupils and younger ones... between pupils from this region and ones from other regions... between pupils and the staff”. He reminded the children of southern schools to “love work, maintain discipline. Don’t be unruly, be self-reliant... You should compete, compete in learning, compete in everything.” ... He also advised the staff to “love the pupils as if they were your own children”.
Also on June 1, 1955, Uncle Ho had the article “June 1” published in Nhan Dan Newspaper No.455. He reminded parents, unions and organisations about their responsibilities towards children. According to Uncle Ho, caring for and educating teenagers and children to become good citizens requires good methods and good education.
He believed that caring for and educating teenagers and children is a special science. First of all, we must understand children's psychology and have appropriate educational methods to promote their creativity and intelligence, “must use the new democratic spirit to educate them”. There are five things to love: love the Fatherland, love the people, love labour, love science, love the public assets”; “must be skilful to develop their health and mind, becoming children with 4 good qualities: active, bold, naive, honest”; and have ‘the characteristics of a new person: not afraid of difficulties, not afraid of suffering, bold, tenacious”.
In the afternoon, even though he was busy with many things, he still took time to pick up the children and play with them in the garden on the grounds of the Presidential Palace. Through that, we can see the special care and concern that Uncle Ho had for the children.
The majestic Presidential Palace is where Uncle Ho’s domestic and foreign activities took place as head of the Party and head of the State. The most luxurious room, where there are 5 large arches in the front of the building, is where important historical events of the country took place, such as meetings of the Government Council, and the National Assembly and is also a solemn place to welcome Heads of State, Party leaders of brotherly countries, and ambassadors to present their credentials.
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Uncle Ho with children at the Presidential Palace. (File Photo from Ho Chi Minh Museum) |
However, on the occasion of celebrating International Children's Day in 1961, Uncle Ho reserved this special place for children to play and exhibit “Children with 5 things Uncle Ho's teachings”. In 20 days, nearly 100,000 children came to see the exhibition and had fun during the summer. The main exhibition centre was the luxurious living room of the building. Many children who came to this place for the first time liked it very much. They touched everything and happily rolled out into the house and onto the lawn.
The sounds of singing and laughter resounded, it was truly a festival. Some comrades were afraid that the sound of loudspeakers would affect surrounding agencies, so they asked Uncle Ho to remove the loudspeakers, but Uncle Ho said: “The exhibition must have loudspeakers to be fun.” He also reminded them to prepare plenty of ice cream, syrup, water and candy to serve the children.
On his birthday, Uncle Ho often took the excuse of “going on business” to avoid cumbersome longevity wishes, but every time it was International Children’s Day, no matter how busy he was, he still took time to play with small children. There were times when Uncle Ho welcomed children to play at the Presidential Palace, in his garden, and there were times when he went to schools and children's camps to visit children. In letters to teenagers and children, at the end of the letter, Uncle Ho often wrote: “I love you very much”, or “I kiss you all!”.
In his last days, Uncle Ho still had special affection and care for the children. On May 31, 1969, middle school students of the Vietnam Music School were honoured to enter the Presidential Palace to perform. That day, although Uncle's health was weak, he was still very happy to see the children perform. Uncle affectionately called them “tiny artists” and “future artists”. Uncle Ho advised: “You must study well to serve the people in the future”.
On June 1, 1969, Uncle Ho wrote the article “Improving the responsibility of caring for and educating children and adolescents” published in Nhan Dan Newspaper, No.5526. He wrote: “Teenagers and children are the future owners of the nation. Therefore, taking good care of and educating our children is the duty of the entire Party and the entire people. That work must be done persistently.”
The memories, letters, and articles Uncle Ho gave to teenagers and children every Children's Day from his residence and work at the Presidential Palace were all imbued with Uncle Ho's deep love for teenagers and children. Caring for the younger generation and children is reflected in his lifestyle, ethics, strategic and scientific vision.
In his will, he did not forget to send the most loving words to his children: “Finally, I leave behind a lot of love for the entire people, the entire Party, and the entire army and teenagers and children...”.
Imbued with Uncle Ho's ideology “Caring for and educating children well is the duty of the entire Party and all people”, the Party, State and people have regularly paid attention to the work of protecting, caring for and educating children. Many teenagers and children have obtained outstanding achievements in many fields, bringing glory to the country, and bringing Vietnam on par with the powers of the five continents. That is what the beloved Uncle Ho always wished for.
