Grown-up emperors struggling to cope with squalling princelings
- Source: Global Times
- [21:40 May 31 2010]
- Comments
Some experts warn this poses a potential social hazard. Zhou Xiaozheng, a demographer of Renmin University of China wrote that "The first generation of only children have lost their sisterhood and brotherhood. The picture will be grimmer in terms of the second generation of single children, who will have no aunts or uncles and have weaker personalities than their parents." Babies' attach-ment to their parents may diminish if their father and mother are constantly absent. The lack of quality time with kids could make them feel intense and insecure, and the parent-child relationship may suffer.
Another issue lies in the conflict of child-rearing concepts between the younger and older generations.
Grandparents like to adopt a laissez-faire approach while young couples are big believers in pushing their children from an early age.
Two of my neighbors are graduates of Shanghai Jiaotong University now working for a multinational corporation. Four years ago they had a baby girl, and then the wife's mother came to help.
In addition to the child wailing and screaming all day long, I could not help but overhear family squabbles.
The mother blamed her mother for lavishing the kid with too much high-calorie snacks. The grandma defended herself by questioning "Is it wrong to have a plump baby?"
As time went by, the mother insisted on starting early education, spanning from oral English to Chinese character identification to abacus training. The grandmother flatly rejected this attempt to "ruin the childhood of my adorable baby," saying they should let nature take its own course and give the child time to be a child.
In this case, parents really need to take time to reach a consensus on how these cherished single children are going to be raised. After all, the future of the whole of society depends on the second generation of only children.
The author is a Shanghai-based freelance writer. viewpoint@ globaltimes.com.cn
