A little emperor. One-child family
Chen, B.
Integration 39: 27
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0916-0582 PMID: 12287777 Document Number: 284948
China has an increasing number of households with only one child. Most experts on child rearing, however, deny that children from one-child families are cause for public concern. The main problem is with parents' attitudes, prejudices, and perceptions about the kind of education they think should be provided to their children. Parents' education directly influences children. 70% of parents want their children to go to college, while more than 90% are most concerned with their children's academic performance. These parental preoccupations and attendant demands weigh heavily upon children. Teenagers from one-child families responding to a survey of Sister Zhixin's hotline complained that parents regard them as slaves instead of as independent human beings and that they are lonely at home. While it may be true that parents of single children in China regard their children as property, anecdotal evidence suggests that this perspective on parenthood is changing for the better.