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LIFE> Health
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Double happiness?
By Lin Qi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-03 09:07 According to the the National Population and Family Planning Commission, approximately 90 million only children born during the 1980s and 1990s will enter child-bearing age in the next 10 years. Yang is already one of these happy mothers of two children. "When I was a kid, I always wanted an elder brother to take care of me," she says. "It was my happiest time spending summer holidays at my grandparents', when I could play with my cousins." China's one-child generation is often labeled as spoilt and self-centered. They are called the "little emperors", grow up lonely, depend too much on others and are not used to sharing. Yang clearly remembers one day when her grandmother was slicing a juicy, ripe watermelon in half. Yang didn't wait for her grandmother but snatched the fruit took a huge bite herself. "Grandma scolded me for being self-centered and disrespectful of my elders. I grew up realizing what an important lesson she had taught me," Yang says. Despite Yang's plan for brother-sister harmony within her own young family, her 3-year-old daughter at first didn't take too kindly to her newborn brother. "She wasn't close to us, because we have been busy at work and entrusted much of her care to a distant aunt," Yang says. She noted her daughter didn't sleep well for several nights after the baby was home from the hospital. She became clingy and obedient to Yang and would get jealous and impatient when her nanny helped nurse her baby brother. Yang tries to convince her daughter how great it is to have a brother. "I tell her she now has a faithful playmate and helper while many other children don't," she says. "And she can play with her brother on the backseat when we drive out." But Yang says nature is now taking its course. "One day I saw my daughter standing by the bassinet," Yang says. "She gazed at her brother for a while and called his name gently. I think she is ready to be a good sister." Zheng Chen, a bank official in Hangzhou, believes that competitiveness between a brother and sister is good for children. She has a 4-year-old daughter and plans to have a second baby this year. Zheng believes children will perform better at school if they have a brother or sister to contend for parents' love and attention. Plus, they learn from each other and take care of each other, she says. Despite the widespread desire among young Chinese women to have two children, the reality is perhaps different. Research shows many eligible couples do not even have one child let alone two, and many young city-dwelling couples even put off marriage. In 2007, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences carried out research on only-children born between 1976 and 1986. Nearly two thirds of the respondents chose to have only one child. "Economic capacity is one crucial factor about whether people want a second child," says Ma Xiaohong from the Institute of Population in Beijing. The cost of education is reportedly the second largest proportion of Chinese family expenditure, after food. Besides schooling fees, parents also pay for all kinds of special classes outside school, such as English, painting and singing lessons. "We are not rushing to have a second child until we can afford good education for both children," says Leng Xiang. The father of a 4-month boy in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and his wife are eligible to have a second child. "My cousins all have one child and do not want another one even if they could. They want to dedicate wholeheartedly to their only-child and can't spare the extra money and effort," Leng says. |
