Child's Slave (Chinese: 孩奴 háinú) is used to describe some parents in China, especially those born in the 1980s, who are under pressure when raising their children. The pressures can be in form of financial, physical, or mental pressure. The parents who are "Child's Slave" lose their self-value and the purpose of life because they live and work only for their children. Also, their children are usually spoiled because of the indulgence of parents.
Contents
- High living cost
- One child policy
- Personal psychological factor
- Characteristics
- Effects on children
- Effects on family
- Effects on society
- Situation in China
- TV Drama
- References
Similarly, there are also "House's Slave" and "Car's Slave", which means the people who are under living pressure of buying houses and cars.
High living cost
The main reason is the high cost of raising a child, which includes the cost of housing, food, education and transportation. It has been rising over the years. According to the gynecologist in China, it cost about 40 RMB only to give birth in 1980s, while it is over 4,000 RMB now. However, even more money is spent on education of the child because of the fierce competition in China. The huge expenditure forces parents to become a "child's slave". Some married couples might even get child phobia because of it.
One-child policy
Parents in China can have only one child under one-child policy, which leads to excessive parental expectations. With parents putting all their hopes and dreams on the only child, the parents might over-protect them and materially over-provide them.
Personal psychological factor
In Chinese traditional culture, family is considered as a center of society. This concept remains the same now and the child becomes the center of family. The parents who are "child's slaves" are mostly post-80s, who grew up in a special circumstance. As the first generation growing under single child policy, they had no siblings and were the center of family as well. Therefore, they are self-oriented and have difficulty of expressing their emotions. They use materials and money to show their love towards their children. This gives them a heavy burden and makes them become "child's slave" eventually.
Characteristics
Effects on children
The child is usually well-taken care of, hence spoiled by parents. Since everything is well prepared by the parents, the child might have low self-care ability. Moreover, he gains sufficient supports, both financially and mentally, to focus on his own interests, which may lead to temporary success. This reduces their ability of facing failure. Also, the children might be over dependent on their parents.
On the other hand, since the children are spoiled by their parents, they take parents' love for granted, and even regard them as servants. This might affect the personality of children, by developing the so-called prince illness. Lack of sense of responsibility slows down their mental maturity.
Effects on family
Since the child is the center of the family, the parents are willing to give up their own life goals in order to focus on the growth of the child. High expectation is imposed to the kid, and it might worsen the relationship between the child and parents due to the severe upbringing
Effects on society
For the whole society, a generation of spoilt children does little contribution to social development. They are selfish and lazy, unwilling to work hard.
Aging society is another problem. If young couples refuse to give birth because of the fear of becoming "child's slaves", the labor force of society will be reduced.
Situation in China
"Child's slave" has become a common situation in modern China. Many young parents, especially those born in the 1980s, are called "child's slaves" to describe the heavy burden on them.
More than 80% of young parents feel great pressure under the burden of raising a child because of high expenses incurred as the child grows up. To ensure their child grow in a better environment, young parents are willing to spend most of their income on them. The common situation of buying expensive imported milk powder is a representation. The average cost for raising up a child from birth to grade six is RMB 450,000, despite the extra spending like traveling or studying abroad. In big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the cost is even much higher.
Moreover, most of these young parents also have other "name-tags", including "mortgage's slave", "card's slave" and "car's slave", which indicates how heavy their financial pressure are. It is because of the inflation in China and also their wills of providing a better living environment to their family and child. Apart from the financial pressure, "Child's slaves" sacrifice their own life for the child. Some of them give up personal career and shorten their leisure time to take care of the child, or some of them work day and night to earn money for their child.