My name is Laoji. I’m a writer and a documentary director.
I have a son named Simba
I think in one’s childhood, the thing he needs most is play
When Simba was two and half years old, he said he wanted to see polar bears
The kid kept saying it, like a repeater
Papa I want to see polar bears. I just want to see polar bears.
So we travelled 12 countries by trike
And reached the North Pole in the end
In the next 10 days, however, we didn’t see any polar bear
Simba almost cried
On the last day
A huge white polar bear came into his sight very slowly
And that, actually, was me, his dad
In March, 2017
He was only 5
After travelling 146 days
He became the youngest Chinese to visit the South Pole
The news was brought to China
And went viral on social networks
Most comments are like
The family at least has 20 or 30 million
My job is ordinary
It’s just I spend money in a different way
I only spent 300,000 on the trip to the North Pole
And 600,000 to the South Pole
It’s just the price of a toilet in the metropolises
Instead of buying a house, I use the money to travel
Many people have doubts
They say, “If the kid doesn’t start school at such a young age
Will he be left behind in study?”
In fact Simba is learning English, and Spanish as well
He learns by playing
When we went to the North Pole, we speak English during the whole trip
And we speak Spanish when we were in the South America
You like？
Yes I like
Every day he met many local kids
He bought lollipops and ice creams by himself
He played and communicated with others
I think the key to learn a language is to offer him an environment
To let him feel motivated, not forced, to speak
I find that nowadays parents in China
Are making their kids too comfortable
It would weaken children’s ability to adapt to the environment
Simba is able to take things as they are
He can sleep anywhere we go and eat anything we have
While we were in the Amazon, we prepared everything for him
We covered him in thick clothes and applied insect repellents on his body
To our surprise
One day he woke up with 70 or 80 insect bites
The itch made him so uncomfortable that he couldn’t stop scratching.
His mom and I asked him if he wanted to go back to the city right away
Simba looked at us and said “But I haven’t hooked a piranha.”
For me, a healthy body is a life-long fortune to a kid
In the North Pole, we had a sauna
And then rolled in the snow
I thought Simba would freeze
But he asked for another one only a few seconds later
I caught a severe cold the next day while he was fine
During the trip, children would have many dreams
And when they come back to ordinary life
They would learn and advance toward the goals
Simba now has 20 dreams or so
Once we had the chance
To watch a puppet show
And Simba said, “Papa I want to be a puppeteer”
While we were in the United States, he went to see an aircraft
Where there were a lot of airplanes
He walked on and said
“Papa I want to drive an aircraft. I want to command the airplanes.”
He is also the youngest Chinese volunteer of World Animal Protection organization
Simba loves taking pictures
But he also breaks cameras a lot
He broke 3 cameras on the trip
Still I buy him a new one
He photographs everything
He would even squat down on the ground to shoot dung 78 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,680 Taking one photo and another from different angels
Children have their own perspectives
They can see details ignored by adults
People ask me a lot, “What if the kid gets sick in the trip?”
But I want to ask them, “Doesn’t the kid get sick at home?”
We take many medicines with us
And we note the number and address of hospitals along the way
Simba got sick only once during our world trip
Let the kid play around
He would have strong immunity
Fantastic
I suggest that parents take a slow trip with kids
Regularly two adults can visit 5 places per day
But if you are with the kid, one place is enough
You don’t have to go to the poles too
You can visit Xinjiang, Tibet
Mount Putuo in Zhejiang or Fragrant Hills in Beijing
I think we should put down the cell phones and trifles
To really accompany the children
It is a very important part in their growth
Let us be each other’s company, travel around and enjoy all the beautiful things in life.