Actor Ryu Jin talked about his eldest son Chan-hyung, who was accepted to the Berklee College of Music.
On the 3rd, a video titled "YouTube silver button, overlapped celebrations including eldest son's acceptance to Berklee College of Music | actor Ryu Jin and Lee Hye-sun couple celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary" was uploaded to the "Woman DongA" channel.
That day, Ryu Jin and Lee Hye-sun discussed customized education methods for their two children. Lee Hye-sun said, "As a mother, as I continue to raise the children, what I thought was most important in that process was that each person has different inherent traits. For each child, considering their individual tendencies, I always worried about the environmental factors that would allow them to enjoy, be satisfied and be happy. Children always need autonomy. Because of that, I thought educational aspects that could foster a greater sense of responsibility from autonomy were important," she said.
She then spoke about their eldest son Chan-hyung: "A person who truly understands something is someone who must fully experience what they aim for and what they want; that becomes their learning. It also came up in the YouTube video that in choosing a university, it wasn't that the university was his ultimate goal but that college could serve as a means or tool for the various directions he wants to pursue. For that reason, Chan-hyung needs to continuously take on diverse challenges and experiences."
Earlier, Ryu Jin had announced on his YouTube channel that Chan-hyung had been accepted to Berklee College of Music in the United States. Ryu Jin honestly said, "Chan-hyung is very curious; of course he talked about being a doctor and a scientist, but he made a really unexpected choice. I think I was more surprised by that than by his entering college. It means he ultimately achieves what he wants to do. Chan-hyung has that tendency. When he becomes obsessed with something he wants to do, he goes all in. So while entering college is something to celebrate, I was also quite surprised by that choice."
To that, Lee Hye-sun said, "Actually, Chan-hyung applied to only one university. The only one. The school he is going to this time is not so much a place he targeted and prepared for as something he thought, 'Which department or school would fit this like a tailored suit?' after reviewing what he has done so far, and with that conviction he challenged himself. Honestly, I am also a parent going through admissions for the first time, and the American admissions process is largely unfamiliar, so even if you trust your child, the anxiety is unavoidable. But Chan-hyung's will to do what he wants is so strong that once he is convinced, he has a firm desire to produce results himself. At first I thought, 'Isn't that arrogance? How can he be so certain?' but then good results started to follow for Chan-hyung," she expressed in surprise.
On the subject of their children's future aspirations, Ryu Jin said, "After hearing the college news, I still don't know what he'll become. Just because he chose that college doesn't mean we know how things will change. As parents, I think we should just support them diligently. As for the second son, these days I don't really know either. When he was young, he said he'd become a chef, starting from 'Culinary Class Wars,' and after watching chefs like Choi Hyun-seok he searched recipes a lot, bought many cookbooks and I thought he would really become a chef, but as he grew up it seems different. The influence of people around him matters, but he seems to be somewhat influenced by his older brother," he said.
He said, "In the past, we hardly communicated, but now that both are older they communicate a lot. That certainly means they influence each other: the older brother will tell the younger, 'You should do this too,' and since they shoot YouTube together they will hear things from around them. Chan-ho now makes me think I don't really know what his goal is either. Children's dreams are not something parents can easily judge. They can change at any time."
Lee Hye-sun also said, "Especially these days, unlike our time, dreams are not so standardized; the more dreams you can have now, the more valuable and rich what you gain may be. Environment cannot be ignored. Because of that, from birth the children have been environmentally exposed to their father's professional life, and they occasionally had opportunities to meet people related to broadcasting, so during their growth they took it for granted. Later, when they consider whether this is a career they want to pursue, they will take that into account," referring to the possibility of debuting in the entertainment industry.
Ryu Jin said, "I have worried about that. If the children think about going into the entertainment side, I wouldn't oppose it at all, but the concern is that if that happens, I'm not an ordinary dad but an entertainer dad—what can I actually do to help? I think I did everything myself when I debuted, so will they manage everything on their own? While thinking that, I also wondered if there was anything I could do to help them avoid trial and error, but I found there wasn't much I could do," he said.
He candidly said, "All I can do is talk to them. It's not easy. Not only in this case but if you hear people around you saying 'try it' and you do it, that isn't enough. There are plenty of good-looking and stylish people, and you'll still have to compete among them, so they need to do a lot of self-management and self-development on their own; that's what I tell them. Even if they choose that path, there is not much parents can do to help. We can at least help adjust their schedules for lines, I guess."
[Photo] Lee Hye-sun SNS, Woman DongA
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