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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Mothers won't skimp on bringing up children
By Xu Fang |
June 24, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DESPITE the financial crisis, families with children under school age won't cut costs when it comes to raising their children, according to a survey released yesterday.
The East China Normal University survey questioned 927 mothers with children under six online through Website www.babytree.com.
The mothers were from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, provincial capitals and small cities.
The survey found that the incomes of 51 percent of families had decreased or were expected to go down due to the financial crisis with 14 percent saying the decrease was significant.
The average expenditure on rearing a child accounted for 20 percent of the family income. In the four major cities, the average cost of raising a child to the age of six was 118,000 yuan (US$17,277). The cost in sampled provincial cities and small cities was 76,000 yuan and 60,000 yuan respectively.
Despite the fall in income, more than 80 percent of the mothers questioned said they wouldn't spend less on bringing up their children.
"I would rather reduce expenditure on eating out, entertainment and travel first. But the child's life shouldn't be affected," said a mother surnamed Bai, who has a 10-month-old son.
While spending a lot on the children, mothers also wanted them to do well educationally. More than half of the mothers in the survey had begun to teach their children to read before they were two years old and children had learned to read an average of 750 Chinese characters before going to school, the survey found.
The East China Normal University survey questioned 927 mothers with children under six online through Website www.babytree.com.
The mothers were from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, provincial capitals and small cities.
The survey found that the incomes of 51 percent of families had decreased or were expected to go down due to the financial crisis with 14 percent saying the decrease was significant.
The average expenditure on rearing a child accounted for 20 percent of the family income. In the four major cities, the average cost of raising a child to the age of six was 118,000 yuan (US$17,277). The cost in sampled provincial cities and small cities was 76,000 yuan and 60,000 yuan respectively.
Despite the fall in income, more than 80 percent of the mothers questioned said they wouldn't spend less on bringing up their children.
"I would rather reduce expenditure on eating out, entertainment and travel first. But the child's life shouldn't be affected," said a mother surnamed Bai, who has a 10-month-old son.
While spending a lot on the children, mothers also wanted them to do well educationally. More than half of the mothers in the survey had begun to teach their children to read before they were two years old and children had learned to read an average of 750 Chinese characters before going to school, the survey found.
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