Hanoi is well-known to be the economic center of Vietnam.

As a results, people from all over

the country flood the city hoping for a better career, a better future than their predecessors.
This, however, unsurprisingly leads to the problems of economic and population pressure in
Hanoi. Many people are unable to reach their desirable salary, are unable to meet the standard
of living in the capital. However, there’s a community, despite their hardships, wants to provide
their children everything to the best of their ability. This community, consists of parents from
different levels of economic system, often quit or spend minimal amount of time for their
occupation, and use that time to accompany with their children instead. They are known as “…”
whose dedication usually follows with expectations of their children to be successful in the
future

It is common for Asian parents not to express their feelings to their children explicitly. Phrases
such as “I love you” are rarely seen, while actions that implicitly show the affection are much
more common. Taking kids to schools and back home, asking how their days went, telling them
about their happiness in their day are common examples of these implicit acts to connect with
their children. These acts are believed to provide children with a sense of safety, a sense of
deep connections to their family that nothing can replace. However, following these acts of
affections are expectations put on the child. The parents, by providing the child everything that
they believe is the best for the them, expects them to excel in studying, to achieve great scores
at school with hopes of them being success in the future. Similarly, while those thoughts are
not explicitly stated, the child can feel a pressure that they have to perform well so they do not
disappoint their parents, not to make the efforts that their parents put into nurture them in
pain.

In primary and secondary school, I was always a top-tier student in my class. Aced all exams,
being chosen to participate in many competitions both in Vietnam and in overseas. That’s why
when I reach high school, expectations on me were really high. My parents wholeheartedly
believe that I’ll will be able to continue to continue to perform at the highest level. That’s when
I failed the qualifier to join the team for the National Physics Olympiad at the start of the school
year. It was a shock to both me and my parents. It was guilt, it was disappointment, it was grief
of what I could have fixed, of what I could have done better. We had arguments, where they
showed their disbelief and their fear of what’s to come. But then it was acceptance. They
accepted that the competition is over and continue to support me of what’s to come. in the
end, it’s still the continuous support that makes me feel motivated to try again, to continue
striving for the ultimate goal I have set. Failures can make us doubt our own worth and can
adversely affect our self-esteem. But only when having the never-ending support from my
family, I got the courage to try again and improve. Without those acts of affection, of caring and
love, I would not be able to reach where I am today.

I was lucky to have such supporting parents, who are able to dedicate all of their resources to
me. However, not every people are that lucky, and in my opinion the government should
provide support to the young generation so that their parents are relieved of this “occupation”
However, it’s only because of this “occupation” that I got to learn new perspectives from many
events in my life. Not only do I become more grateful of my parents, but I also feel safer making
difficult decisions in my life. Because I know they will be there for me