The STEAM Education and Research Centre of Lingnan University, in collaboration with the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, the Department of Paediatrics, School of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the HK Paediatric Society, organized the happiness and life education seminar “Love Education: Cultivate Emotional Intelligence, and Develop Self-learning Skills” on January 27, 2024 at Yan Lo, Yau Ma Tei. Special thanks are given to the staff of Yan Lo.

With around one hundred participation of parents, teachers, and students both online and offline, Prof. Ho Lok Sang shared lessons on communicating, understanding, and dealing with anxiety in children’s education. There are “five principles”:

1. Let children trust us and be willing to communicate
2. Develop children’s ability to live independently
3. Adapt with children’s abilities in different life stages and activate their potential properly
4. Always encourage and never hurt their feelings (hurt their confidence or self-esteem)
5. Treat yourself well

Prof. Ho Lok Sang, The Director of the STEAM Education and Research Centre of Lingnan University

Prof. Ho stressed the importance and methods of treating self well. Parents and teachers should possess the insight in loving children. Parents should bear in mind the importance of trust by children and avoid words or actions that damage trust. Children’s stresses usually come from the gap between what they can do and what they are expected to do, while their interests come from a sense of achievement from what they learn. Therefore, parents should teach them independence and adaptability in activating potential in different life stages to face challenges. Parents better learn the skills of chill and calm, cultivate their internal spirits, keep healthy lifestyle, insist life-long learning, and distinguish between instrumental goals and ultimate goals. Prof. Ho concluded that “Store enough Love, Insight, Fortitude and Engagement, you would harvest happiness life.”

Though teachers and parents love their children, the “insight” to love should be learned. “Fortitude” is when you stick to learning “love” and “insight”; “Engagement” is to always fulfill your responsibilities. Love, Insight, Fortitude and Engagement are the essential “mental capital” for life, and we must store these capitals.

Our research found that, life education at school and in family could both significantly stabilize the happiness index and the scores on how much worthy students think their life is. The 2023-2024 HK Children Happiness Survey is to be launched soon, and we hope the survey could stir up awareness and interest among the education sector, parents, students in life education.


(Live sence of the seminar)