A second child brings stress for many mothers
Print Edition
After having a second child three years ago, 37-year-old Liu Si’en quit her job and became a full-time mother.
“Everything I do is for the kids. It’s even more tiring than work,” she said.
She gave up work, thinking she could offer her children the best education and companionship, as some mothers choose to do in China.
Living in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Liu follows more than 30 childcare and education WeChat accounts and has joined eight “mothers’ groups” on social media. Every day, her phone buzzes with messages sharing thoughts and articles on child-rearing skills.
One of the accounts Liu follows is written by Zhu Yuzi, a radio host in Guangdong, who is also the mother of two children. She has more than 70,000 followers on WeChat.
Along with several volunteer organizations and the women’s federation of Guangzhou, Zhu compiled a report on the “anxiety index” of Chinese mothers, polling over 4,000 mothers, 70 percent of whom had two children. The report showed 75 percent said they were “in controllable anxiety,” 25 percent were “stressed” — 6 percent of whom were “extremely anxious.”
After more than 30 years of the one-child policy, China began to allow all couples to have two children in 2016. While some are happily expecting a new family member, others are reluctant.
A report from the All-China Women’s Federation in 2017 showed over half of families with one child had no desire to raise a second child.
Limited educational and medical resources and quality of baby products were among the top concerns for having another child, while 70 percent of the parents were worried about their financial condition and lack of care for their children, the report showed.
The findings match what Zhu has found in her survey.
Taking herself for example, Zhu found that a third of her family expenses were on education. In addition to schooling, her 6-year-old son takes six extra-curricular classes that cost up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,750) a year. Her daughter, though just 3 years old, also attends a class after kindergarten. The one-hour course costs 10,000 yuan every year.
“This is what I get for my anxiety: the feeling that my kids have not lost at the starting line,” Zhu said.
For working mother Qin Haihong, raising two children while working is stressful and lowers her living quality.
“All my time is divided into little pieces with so many headaches in life. There is no way I can stay calm,” Qin said.
“Financial conditions, welfare, social life and employment can all affect the desire to have children,” said Dong Yuzheng, head of the Guangdong Academy of Population Development.
China recorded 17.2 million live births in 2017, down from 17.9 million in 2016, with birth rates dropping from 1,295 to 1,243 per 100,000 population, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
“The birth rate is dropping while society is aging. Such demographics sound an alarm for social development. We need to do more to encourage people to have children,” said Dong.
The government is taking measures to increase people’s sense of gains and address the anxiety of parents. China will increase support for preschool education and intensify supervision on child-care institutes, according to the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on Monday.
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