This is a collection of 3-minute speech examples for parent seminar speakers. It provides examples that effectively convey messages with empathy and expertise.

Topic: How to Raise Our Child to Be a Top Student in Society

Hello, everyone!
Today, children with good character receive more affection than those who only excel academically, and talents with rich extracurricular experience garner greater attention than those with top university degrees. Social skills have thus become a quality valued more highly than mere intellectual ability. So, what efforts should parents make to raise our children into charming members of society, ‘social top students’?
Are social skills innate, or are they cultivated? Social skills, in a nutshell, refer to the ability to harmoniously interact with others. A lack of this ability leads to difficulties expressing one’s emotions or communicating with others. Many people mistakenly assume that children with introverted personalities lack social skills, but this is not an accurate judgment. An introverted disposition may imply lower sociability, but it is not necessarily linked to social competence. In other words, quiet and cautious children can still possess healthy social skills, such as forming deep relationships.
The first society children encounter is the ‘home’. Even during infancy, when they cannot speak, children learn about the world through constant communication with their mother using eye contact, expressions, and gestures. Therefore, when a child babbles or shows stranger anxiety, it is crucial for parents to make eye contact and respond. Each of these seemingly small reactions becomes a seed for social skills.
To nurture social skills, understanding your child’s disposition is paramount. Rather than forcing changes to their personality, it’s essential to respect their innate temperament. Children who are expressive and outgoing can expand their social skills through play with peers. For those who are calm and introverted, respecting their need for alone time is necessary, while also providing opportunities within that time for them to feel secure and express themselves.
To gain a more accurate understanding of your child’s disposition, seeking input from various people around them—such as friends, teachers, and parents of friends—is also a good approach. One common mistake parents make is trying to change their child’s personality when they are shy or struggle to get along with friends, asking things like, “Why are you the only one like this?” Sometimes, they even scold the child. However, an introverted personality has many strengths. They tend to be deeply considerate, enjoy deep thought, and may possess more mature thinking than their peers. Above all, their ability to form deep, meaningful relationships with individuals is a significant strength.
If a child is overly introverted, rather than forcing them to socialize with large groups from the start, begin by practicing making friends in one-on-one relationships. Gradually expand to small group activities and then larger group activities to build their confidence. The key is not to ‘force out social skills,’ but to ‘help the child naturally express the social skills already within them.’
Ultimately, the starting point for social skills is deep interest and love for the child. We must carefully observe what the child likes, what situations make them feel comfortable, what they fear, and what words might hurt them. When we look at our child through loving eyes, we can better discover their potential and strengths.
Today, gaze once more at your child with loving eyes and imagine what kind of ‘socially outstanding individual’ they will grow into. A child’s healthy social skills blossom from a parent’s warm gaze and respect. Start right now, in this very moment.

Topic: When Will Spring Come for Our Children?

On a bright Saturday afternoon in June, where might the middle and high school students of this land be? Are they spending time playing with friends or reading a favorite book? Or perhaps out in the mountains and fields, enjoying spring days in the company of nature?
But we know the truth. Most of them are confined to cramped spaces—whether classrooms or cram school study rooms. In an inhumane educational environment that labels high school students—minors—with grades like “You’re a 1st grade” or “You’re a 9th grade,” they struggle to outrank the friend sitting next to them, striving to climb even one grade higher. So ultimately, we know all too well that their precious and beautiful time, like a budding flower, is being mortgaged away entirely.
The problem is that this mortgaged time is being pushed forward. Where it used to be just high school, now it extends to middle school, elementary school, and even kindergarten. Even if they barely manage to enter university, does mortgaging today end there?
As a college student, you might feel a moment of freedom, a moment of romance, but throughout all four years, another competition and pressure for employment await. Even if you endure and secure a job, can you escape a life mortgaged to today?
Reality shows that in most cases, you cannot. Rapidly spreading non-regular employment, normalized restructuring, job insecurity, and surveillance and control driven by performance-based systems press down on life. This society, lacking a robust social safety net, has grown even colder since the 1997 financial crisis. The shock of that era, combined with materialism, left a collective learned response: “No one is responsible for tomorrow.” Consequently, people live by constantly mortgaging today to prepare for an uncertain tomorrow.
A life where every ‘today’ is stolen, from adolescence through university and into working life. In such a life, we cannot even be faithful to today’s ‘me’. A day where we are not faithful to ourselves cannot be warm or true to others. Ultimately, each person finds it hard to feel happiness today, and consideration, solidarity, and interest among neighbors gradually fade. Even sibling bonds grow thin, and children may be seen as a nuisance to their parents if they lack parental wealth.
Korean society ranks among the world’s worst in numerous indicators: working hours, labor intensity, workplace accidents, overwork and stress, musculoskeletal disorders, suicide rates, crime rates, and plummeting birth rates. This is no coincidence. It’s a glimpse into how devastatingly this way of life—sacrificing today to prepare for an uncertain tomorrow amidst inadequate social safety nets—affects us all.
So when will spring, true spring, come for us? Is it only at death’s door, just before closing our eyes, that we finally feel liberation? I can’t help but wonder if my children will end up running on the same hamster wheel I did… It’s an afternoon that brings many thoughts.
To all of you reading this now, thank you. I hope we can collectively ponder and build a society that can pass on spring to our children. Because we know that true spring blooms only upon someone’s dedication and solidarity.

Theme – May you find satisfaction in your own self

One day after a gathering, a deacon approached us holding a smartphone. He took photos with his phone, then excitedly showed everyone who resembled which celebrity, making a big fuss. People around us gathered one by one, and interest in the ‘look-alike analysis app’ on his smartphone naturally grew.
One woman got results saying she resembled a young celebrity with a slim figure, while another was told she resembled a famous Miss Korea-turned-celebrity. Everyone gasped and chattered excitedly. The women themselves seemed satisfied, as if the results were an official endorsement of their looks, while those around them reacted noisily, as if discovering hidden beauty.
Amidst this, the butler pointed the camera at me and took a photo. Perhaps the result was unexpected, because he suddenly hid his phone and started chuckling. After laughing for a while, he finally told me the results: the first person I resembled was a male MC with a rough, stocky build, and the second was an older, well-built female celebrity. Everyone around me burst out laughing, and I joined in, enjoying the fun. After all, it was just a game meant for laughs.
That day, back home, I cautiously asked my daughter beside me, “Do I really look like that?” She tried to comfort me, saying things like the app was a bit inaccurate or that it didn’t recognize me well with glasses on. But machines don’t deliberately lie, so I wondered if that was truly how I objectively appeared. I’d always thought I looked better than that, so I guess I’d been seeing myself through pretty rose-colored glasses.
Suddenly, it hit me why my photos always looked so awkward and strange. Everyone else’s photos looked fine, just as they were, so why did mine always come out distorted? Now I thought I understood the reason a little. Standing before the mirror, I put on and took off my glasses, scrutinizing my face once more. I’d aged considerably, and my eyes were drooping.
I took out my eyebrow pencil and gently drew the corners of my drooping eyes upward. Layering on more and more, I ended up with exaggeratedly arched eyebrows, like a villainess from a historical drama. It was an unfamiliar, comical look to me, but that day, I wanted to stay like that for a while.
A few hours later, I happened to glance in the mirror and noticed dark circles heavily settled under my eyes. ‘Did I look this tired?’ I was startled, but soon realized it was just smudged makeup. The heavy eye makeup I’d applied earlier had smudged under my eyes. A chuckle escaped me, and eventually, I couldn’t hold back the laughter and laughed out loud for a while.
As I washed my face and wiped away that ridiculous face in the mirror, it felt like the uncomfortable feelings that had settled in my heart were being washed away too. When I disliked my appearance, the disappointment was immense. But once I accepted myself as I am, that very look felt quite endearing and even grateful. I realized anew that my face now is my own unique trace, bearing the full weight of the time I’ve lived so far—my own irreplaceable history.
How about you? As humans, we all live with considerable concern for our appearance. Yet, if we look just a little deeper beneath the surface, we are all beings gradually growing older. Before the passage of time, everyone’s outward appearance inevitably changes. But as the exterior fades, shouldn’t the inner self grow deeper and stronger? Isn’t that precisely what it means to ‘age gracefully’?
True beauty isn’t about having large eyes with double eyelids or a straight, prominent nose. It’s about the face that reveals our inner self. They say that after forty, your attitude toward life shows on your face. Starting now, let’s all make a little effort to take responsibility for our own faces and to face them with confidence.
Thank you for reading to the end. Everyone, you are already beautiful and precious just as you are right now.

Topic – Eye-Level Communication: The First Step to Connecting with Your Child

Hello, everyone?
Thank you for joining us at this parent seminar on proper child-rearing.
Lately, I often hear parents lamenting how difficult it is to communicate with their children. Truthfully, the parent-child relationship can feel both incredibly close and, at times, more challenging than any other bond. It’s easy to assume, ‘I gave birth to this child, so I know everything about them,’ but often, that’s not the case. That relationship, so close yet sometimes so distant—isn’t that precisely the parent-child dynamic?
One of the most common mistakes parents make is ‘misunderstanding.’
The belief that “I know my child well” can actually become an obstacle to seeing them as they truly are. Rather than trying to understand what they like or think, we tend to compare them to our own ideal image or view them through that lens. Or we struggle to accept how they change as they grow, clinging to the image of the child they once were.
But this is never the parents’ fault. Children live in a completely different era than we did. While we were raised to believe following our parents’ wishes was natural, today’s children grow up with free and independent thinking. They are a generation exposed to a wider world and information, thinking and communicating in diverse ways. It’s not easy for two generations with such different education, culture, and ways of thinking to communicate naturally from the start. This is precisely why the ‘effort’ to understand each other is absolutely necessary.
In this context, I’d like to share a story I heard on the radio.
A housewife sent in a story detailing her husband’s frustration over struggling to communicate with their son. While she could exchange natural text messages with their son during his school trip, her husband’s lengthy texts only elicited short, one-word replies like ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Unable to understand why and feeling frustrated, the husband eventually started taking his anger out on his wife for no good reason.
In the past, speaking bluntly and lecturing spouses or children was considered a normal way to communicate. Times have changed, however, and such an approach can now build thicker walls between parents and children. Therefore, we need to adapt our communication methods to suit these changing times.
In the story, the wife, unable to endure her husband’s behavior any longer, ends up giving him a sort of lecture on the ‘eye-level conversation method’ with their son. Seeing their son, who had been as unresponsive as a stone statue, now replying affectionately to his mother’s playful tone—even adding emoticons—the husband slowly begins to change. Though awkward at first, as he gradually adjusted his tone and changed his expressions, his son’s responses transformed too. The replies came back in heartfelt sentences, distinctly different from before.
This change shows our children aren’t beings who unconditionally reject their parents. Children simply wanted to be spoken to in a way familiar to them. If parents reach out first and listen to their children’s language and emotions, that wall can come down more easily than expected.
Of course, new ways always feel unfamiliar and difficult. But in the relationship with your child, even one small attempt to accept and practice this ‘newness’ can become a major key to opening communication between parent and child. I hope today’s seminar becomes a small turning point for many parents struggling with their relationship with their children.
How about we walk together down a new path of communication called the ‘Eye-Level Conversation Method’? So that our children can communicate naturally with their closest parents, and so we can understand and accept their world a little more.
Thank you for joining us.

Topic – We Need Outdoor Education

The government announced that starting in 2012, it will fully implement a five-day school week nationwide for all elementary, middle, and high schools. This is undoubtedly welcome news for students and parents who previously found it difficult to take a leisurely trip. It also presents a great opportunity to break free from the confines of uniform classroom education and practice ‘field education’—visiting historical sites with children to see, hear, and experience things firsthand. Family outings or experiential activities on weekends can add a living, tangible dimension to children’s learning, greatly aiding in developing their critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and creativity.
Furthermore, the five-day school week provides new opportunities for family members who previously struggled to find time for face-to-face conversations amidst busy schedules. It allows parents and children to spend time together, engage in heartfelt dialogue, share life experiences, and strengthen their bonds. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology cited the broader societal shift towards valuing leisure and rest as the background for implementing this system. This shift includes the expanded application of the 40-hour workweek starting in July 2012. Within this trend, schools and parents also responded positively to the five-day school week, and public support gradually increased.
At this point, it’s time for us to teach and learn not just how to ‘make a living,’ but also how to ‘rest well and play well.’ We need to contemplate and research how to rest effectively during downtime and how to play meaningfully during leisure. Especially in a society like ours, where a culture of hard work is deeply rooted, learning how to rest properly and play creatively is crucial. This is not merely leisure; it is a life skill that enhances quality of life and ultimately leads to better outcomes. Efforts to present diverse methods and examples of how to play better and rest more effectively, and to share these socially, are urgently needed.
It is only natural that children’s learning abilities improve through the process of traveling in nature, experiencing history and the environment, laughing and conversing with family, and resting well. Simply stepping out of the complex, busy daily routine and heading to the outskirts with your child to get some fresh air can bring great joy and satisfaction. Such experiences are not just necessary for children; they also provide adults with a vital opportunity to boost productivity and inject vitality into life through meaningful rest and recharging. Now is the time for all of us to build a healthy, beneficial leisure culture where we can rest well and play well together.
Society no longer demands ‘FM-type talent’ confined to rigid frameworks. We have entered an era where convergent thinking—creatively utilizing boundless information—along with creativity and flexibility to view problems from new perspectives are paramount. The expansion of the five-day school week affects far more than just children’s school life. It is a major shift transforming our lives, leisure patterns, and even the very subjects of education. Whereas schools and academies have been central to children’s education until now, the educational role of the family will be increasingly emphasized and expanded going forward. Parents must be able to present creative experiential activities to their children and discover and nurture their talents and aptitudes through shared play and exploration.
If meaningful play and experiences enhance each student’s self-directed learning ability, rather than merely passing time, this would truly be the fruit of education. The more time parents and children spend together, the more the home will become the child’s most reliable place of learning and refuge. This will also positively impact the strengthening of our society’s overall educational function.
Playing well is the path to living well. We hope we can all join in creating a new leisure culture, and we wish for warm weekends spent with children and meaningful outdoor education to naturally permeate every home.
Thank you for reading.

Theme – The Father Effect: From Forgotten Presence to Vital Presence

“I’m glad I have a mom. She loves me. I’m glad I have a refrigerator. It gives me food. I’m glad I have a puppy. It plays with me. I don’t know why I have a dad.”
This is a line from the poem “Why Is There a Dad?” by a second-grade elementary school student, featured on a variety show last year. Hearing this poem, I’m sure I’m not the only one who can’t help but smile bitterly. We might chuckle briefly, but then a chill settles in our hearts—perhaps because it’s a reality we all recognize.
Countless fathers who saw this poem might have felt aggrieved and hollow inside. Those who rush to prepare for work each morning, crammed into crowded subways, enduring day after day for their families. Fathers who silently head to work without question or complaint. How could it not be bitter to realize they are seen as less important than a dog or a refrigerator?
But that’s the reality. The structure of Korean society is far from supportive of fathers fulfilling their roles. With nightly overtime becoming routine, endless company dinners and gatherings, and a culture prioritizing the organization over the individual, fathers inevitably spend more time outside the home than inside. Many fathers want to be good fathers but struggle because they don’t know how. In the past, it was enough to push children to study hard, but now we live in an era where fathers must also learn and master the ‘father role’.
To properly establish a father’s place, personal effort is required. How involved are we in our children’s upbringing right now? Do we know what grade and class our child is in, or their class number? Who are their best friends? What foods do they like? What TV shows do they enjoy? Which celebrities do they admire? Have we perhaps dismissed all this as solely the mother’s domain and remained indifferent?
Regrettably, our society is rife with an atmosphere that naturally excludes fathers from child-rearing. A scene often seen in dramas—a husband berating his wife, “What have you been doing at home that our child’s grades are like this?” when their child’s grades drop—remains deeply ingrained in our perception. However, recent research delivers a clear message: children from families where fathers actively participated in parenting from an early age demonstrate higher academic achievement and greater emotional stability.
Furthermore, a father’s consistent attention and affection increase the likelihood of his children leading successful lives. Children raised with father involvement demonstrate greater resilience against stress and failure, along with superior self-regulation and situational control. Their problem-solving skills are also outstanding, equipping them with the flexibility and strength to navigate life’s various challenges more effectively. This is the ‘father effect’—a distinct, positive parenting energy that differs from that of mothers. The emotional support and modeling received from a father are essential nourishment that cannot be overlooked.
We must now ask ourselves: “What kind of father am I to my child?” It’s time to reflect on whether we are truly a father who provides sincere care and love, not merely someone responsible for providing for the family, but a life companion. To ensure we are not seen as less meaningful than a ‘refrigerator’ or a ‘puppy,’ we must reestablish the father’s place within the family.
Now is the time to seek out that place ourselves, rather than waiting for someone else to create it for us. The true meaning of fatherhood transcends mere blood ties; it is about being someone who leaves a meaningful mark on a child’s life. Now is the time for all of us to rewrite our lives as fathers.

Theme: A Mother’s Maternal Love

Once, I left home for a week. When I returned, the house was completely overrun by fruit flies. It turned out I had left some grapes out before I left. Seeing that scene, I wondered if fruit flies were insects synthesized out of thin air. Seeing them appear spontaneously whenever food is left out, should I call it a marvel? Truly remarkable vitality.
I stood there marveling at the fruit flies’ reproductive power for a while. But the moment I saw a swarm hovering around my baby, my gaze instantly shifted from awe to rage. I started swatting at the flies appearing before me with whatever tissue I could grab. If that wasn’t enough, I didn’t hesitate to kill them indiscriminately with my bare hands.
Come to think of it, I too was once the kind of person who would scream at the sight of a bug and cling to my husband. But that wasn’t the issue now. My entire focus was on one thing: eliminating every single fruit fly buzzing near my baby.
I suppose this is what they call maternal instinct. When I look at my baby, every part of them—their eyes, nose, mouth, even each finger and toe—is utterly adorable. Yet at the same time, they seem so small and fragile that a constant sense of anxiety lingers in the back of my mind. I feel like if anything were to go wrong, even slightly, my heart would ache many times over. Perhaps that’s why I naturally feel the urge to protect my child from the dirty, bleak, and dangerous things that inevitably exist in the world, keeping them clean and safe. In doing so, I find myself becoming increasingly overprotective and perhaps even fierce.
Ultimately, I wonder if maternal love might stem from a very selfish emotion. From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense. The desire for a baby carrying my exact genes to be as healthy and long-lived as possible—that might be rooted in a selfish instinct, unconcerned with anyone else’s fate. Ultimately, maternal love might not be an altruistic emotion at all.
Thinking about this, a movie suddenly came to mind. The mother in that film does everything imaginable to rescue her son from prison. Ultimately, she even commits murder. Of course, this doesn’t mean I would make such an extreme choice myself. But it’s true that I finally understand that film now. The complex emotions of that mother who killed the witness who sent her son to prison, dancing in a way that seemed to be both laughing and crying. I think I understand it a little now.
Aren’t mothers ultimately people who live for someone other than themselves? Because even if they endure pain that feels like tearing out their own heart, it’s less painful than seeing their child suffer.
But the maternal love we commonly know is a little different. The image of a mother who is warm and infinitely kind, who sacrifices herself yet never loses her smile. The kind of love that brings tears to the eyes of those who see it. That is the ‘mother’ we remember. I don’t mean to say this perspective is wrong. It’s just that such a mother is only that kind of being when she is my mother.
Maternal love seen from the outside can have a completely different face. To some eyes, it looks pathetic; to others, overly pushy; sometimes, even violent. That’s why we call other people’s mothers ‘aunties’. So while ‘mothers’ are loved, ‘aunties’ are often criticized, isn’t that so? Even though they are the same being.
Yet, despite this, today I too cling to this child’s side, swatting away fruit flies, warding off danger, unconsciously becoming an ‘auntie’. Even if it began from selfish motives, I know that heart directed toward the child is undeniably genuine. That must be what maternal love is.
Thank you for listening.

Topic – Making My Child a Prodigy: The Fast Track to Ruining Them

It makes me wonder whether Korea’s gifted education is truly heading in the right direction and what its fundamental problem is. At its core, I believe lies the hierarchical university system centered on Seoul National University.
Currently, science gifted education centers operated by major regional universities offer various classes in physics, biology, chemistry, earth science, mathematics, and computer science. Among these, the math class is undoubtedly the most fiercely competitive. The reason is simple: it provides tangible help for college entrance exams. Moreover, from the parents’ perspective, it represents a win-win opportunity, as it offers free access to classes equivalent to high-end private tutoring.
Additionally, awards from various math and science competitions serve as significant bonus points in college admissions, widely perceived as the fastest route to admission to Seoul National University. The government also permits students from specialized science high schools to enter departments unrelated to their major fields, such as law or general social sciences, making it undeniable that Seoul National University is the ultimate destination. Ultimately, all the efforts and systems carried out under the name of ‘gifted education’ converge toward the goal of admission to Seoul National University.
Today, many parents invest enormous time and money to turn their children into ‘gifted’ individuals. A simple search for ‘gifted’ on portal sites floods you with countless programs and information related to gifted education. However, there is a crucial point to seriously consider here. Is the core issue really about diagnosing whether ‘our child is gifted,’ or is it about ‘packaging our child to get them into Seoul National University’?
The problem is that despite parents’ enormous investment and effort, the actual results are inevitably extremely limited. With no clear criteria established for identifying giftedness and the educational goals themselves unclear, the expected effects have obvious limitations. Furthermore, we must remember that becoming overly fixated on the goal of ‘making a genius’ can actually ruin a child who could have grown into an ordinary, well-adjusted citizen.
Pushing children excessively can inflict emotional wounds, potentially diminishing their learning abilities. Moreover, judging a child’s giftedness solely based on test scores is far from accurate. True identification of giftedness requires meticulous observation of the child’s cognitive processes and multifaceted analysis based on that observation.
Above all, it is crucial to understand that giftedness is not something that can be manufactured. True education lies not in parents forcing it, but in respecting the child’s own potential and individuality, helping them grow naturally.
This is something we parents must always keep in mind. A child’s future should not be evaluated solely by scores or admission to prestigious universities. Thank you for reading this long post. I send my heartfelt encouragement to all parents who wish for their child’s ‘happy growth’.

Topic – The phrase “As long as it’s not me”

Sunday evenings are a bit special for our family. While we usually watch our own favorite programs separately, this is the one day we all gather together to watch TV. The show we never miss is ‘1 Night 2 Days’. It’s a travel variety show where seven or so young male celebrities go on a journey to discover the beauty of various places in our country, bungling their way through it. The appeal of this program is truly remarkable. It has such a powerful pull that it can gather family members with different tastes in one place, and it has exponentially increased the number of camping enthusiasts seeking another kind of fun in the mountains and fields. Our family especially loves the ‘luck-of-the-draw games,’ where the cast members’ witty humor and ingenuity shine. Their efforts to win—employing all sorts of tricks, shortcuts, and even foul play to secure a meal or a comfortable place to sleep—are often absurd and delightful. And after they win, they invariably shout: “As long as it’s not me~!”
In reality, unimaginable foul play and shortcuts are transformed into laughter on the show. In times like these, when there aren’t many reasons to laugh, that laughter acts as a kind of energizer for many people. In that sense, 1 Night 2 Days might be quite a meaningful variety show. However, not long ago, my son was playing a game with his friends and loudly bragged about winning by pulling off a small trick without getting caught. As a parent, I immediately felt the need to teach him proper values and launched into a lengthy lecture. Most parents would probably react similarly. But then, one thing my son casually said stuck with me like a heavy weight. “As long as it’s not me.” I was flabbergasted, and part of me wondered if he was just mindlessly copying something from too much TV. I tried to comfort myself, thinking, ‘Well, he’s just a kid.’ But soon after, I was struck by deep reflection: children are watching, listening, and learning every word and action from adults steeped in competitiveness and individualism.
In this increasingly fast-paced world, the social atmosphere seems to be thickening with the notion that “as long as I’m doing well, that’s all that matters.” The prolonged economic downturn of recent years has even robbed us of the leisure to look after our less fortunate neighbors, and people’s hearts are gradually closing and freezing over. Perhaps, without even realizing it, we’ve been living with the mindset of “as long as it’s not me, it’s fine”? A few days ago, a friend living in Busan called me and started with a somewhat unexpected story: “I’ve made a late-in-life child.” Wondering what he meant, I listened as he explained he’d decided to sponsor a five-year-old boy in Africa through an aid organization. He said sending 20,000 won a month would cover the living expenses for four families in that region for a month. My friend was helping that child, thinking of him like a ‘late-born son’.
These days, TV often shows the harsh reality of poverty among African children. Children emaciated to skin and bones from starvation, babies sucking on breasts that offer no milk, Haitian children eating cookies made of dirt… Horrific and heartbreaking scenes keep flashing before my eyes. Yet, seeing such realities, I suddenly felt ashamed of my own indifference, thinking, “It’s not my problem, so it’s okay.” Some might counter, “Why should we help Africans when there are so many poor people in our own country?” But the crucial issue isn’t ‘who we help,’ but our attitude toward living together. Right now, we need to let go of the selfish notion that ‘only I need to live well’ and cultivate a heart that looks around us.
Humans are social creatures. We cannot survive alone. Yet, in our daily lives, we are becoming slaves to a selfish and foolish mindset that says we only need to avoid the sufferers ourselves. Wasn’t the reason our ancestors lived through mutual aid in community cultures like gye, dure, and puam-i ultimately because they understood the truth of life: ‘If others live well, I can live well too’? Even in today’s reality, where recession, job insecurity, and soaring prices make us tighten our purse strings, what if we changed our mindset? Instead of thinking “As long as it’s not me,” what if we thought “I can do it too”? At the very least, couldn’t we, like my friend, find greater joy by practicing small acts of sharing?
I believe that if we set aside indifference and build a world where we live together with this small will, our society will surely become a little warmer, bit by bit.

Topic – Adenoid Hypertrophy: Don’t Ignore Your Child’s Snoring

Hello. With the sudden chill in the air, keeping kids healthy these days is no easy task. During seasonal transitions, children with weaker immune systems often catch colds easily. Parents must feel like they’re fighting a daily battle, dealing with kids who cough and have runny noses morning and night. But have you noticed your child snoring loudly at night? It’s easy to dismiss this as just a simple cold symptom or fatigue. However, if your child’s snoring is unusually loud or they seem to have difficulty breathing through their nose normally, you should consider the possibility of ‘adenoid hypertrophy’.
Adenoids are a type of tonsil located between the nose and throat. They act as a defense mechanism, blocking infections from entering the respiratory tract. However, when these adenoids become inflamed, infected, or abnormally enlarged due to developmental changes, it’s called ‘adenoid hypertrophy’. Adenoid hypertrophy primarily occurs for two reasons. One is a temporary symptom caused by infection, and the other is natural enlargement that occurs as the child grows. If adenoids that temporarily enlarge during growth naturally return to their original size over time, it is not a major problem. However, if it is chronic adenoid hypertrophy that persists for a long period, treatment is absolutely necessary.
This symptom is not simply a problem that ends with snoring. Enlarged adenoids can cause complications like otitis media, as well as difficulty eating or even vomiting. Particularly when snoring becomes severe, it prevents restful sleep. This can lead to chronic fatigue in the child and a significant decline in immunity. Accumulated sleep deprivation can also cause emotional changes, such as increased irritability or distractibility. In fact, emotional instability and reduced learning ability are common characteristics observed in children experiencing sleep disorders.
A more critical point to note is that enlarged adenoids can also affect a child’s facial structure. Enlarged adenoids obstruct the airway, making nasal breathing difficult. This forces the child to develop the habit of breathing through the mouth. Prolonged mouth breathing can lead to abnormal facial deformation and, in severe cases, may result in malocclusion where the upper and lower front teeth do not align properly. Therefore, if your child frequently breathes through their mouth and experiences repeated snoring, it is advisable not to dismiss this as a simple habit but to seek a professional diagnosis.
Even if it is not solely due to enlarged adenoids, snoring in young children can impact their growth and development. Snoring disrupts deep sleep, inhibiting the secretion of growth hormones released during sleep. This can ultimately slow a child’s growth rate. In fact, among children who frequently snore, it is not uncommon for some to experience slower increases in height or weight compared to their peers. Therefore, it is crucial above all else to visit a hospital for an examination before a child’s snoring becomes habitual or persistent.
Even a single minor symptom appearing in a child should never be dismissed lightly. What seems trivial can develop into a more significant problem over time. Rather than dismissing enlarged adenoids as simply a cold or fatigue, identifying the exact cause and starting treatment early when necessary is paramount for a child’s health and development. Isn’t paying close attention and care so our children can grow up healthy and bright the most important role of parents?