China's birth population is declining, how to support the willingness to have children
The troubles of parents and mothers: who will take care of the baby
Zou Jingjing's three-child home is like a window, interpreting the joys and sorrows of young parents.
Childbirth and childcare are no longer a matter for an individual or even a family, but a state matter that concerns the long-term development of the Chinese nation.
On January 17, 2023, statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the national population at the end of 2022 was 1,411.75 million, a decrease of 850,000 from the end of 2021. This is the first negative growth in China's population in many years.
It is worth noting that the population born in 2022 is only 53% of that in 2016.
On August 17, 2022, the National Health and Medical Commission held a press conference. A domestic survey revealed at the meeting showed that unattended infants and young children are the primary factor hindering childbirth, and more than one-third of urban families have childcare needs. , but the supply is obviously insufficient, especially the supply of inclusive services is in short supply.
This information has attracted widespread attention, bringing to the surface the difficulty of childcare for young families today.
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"It's reunion!" On New Year's Eve on January 21, Zou Jingjing, a mother of three children in Beijing, shared a photo of the reunion of the three babies on social platforms. The three babies were dressed in red new clothes, holding new year's money in their hands, and their smiles overflowed the screen.
34-year-old Zou Jingjing is an insurance practitioner and has three children.
In November 2020, when his daughter was almost 4 years old, Zou Jingjing gave birth to twin sons.
The big family has become more lively since then, and the troubles of who will take care of the children and how to take care of them have also followed. After the whole family's discussion, grandma and grandpa are responsible for the children's food, and grandpa and grandma take care of other daily life. The division of labor is clear.
But with 3 children and 6 adults, the three-bedroom apartment less than 100 square meters is particularly crowded.
"Looking at the parents who are over half a century old, they often have to lay the floor in the living room in order to take care of our children. It is very distressing." Zou Jingjing said bluntly that the pressure of childcare for the third child is quite high, and the family is very busy every day.
After repeated discussions with the family, Zou Jingjing decided to let her grandmother take the twins back to her hometown in Hebei to take care of them, and Beijing and Hebei will "fight" separately.
Amidst the lights of thousands of families, the story of Zou Jingjing's family is being played out in every family.
"Babysitters take care of the baby, parents take care of the baby, and full-time take care of the baby"
At the end of 2022, in Shenzhen, Yang Wen (pseudonym), the mother of the second child, was preparing newborn supplies for the upcoming second child, and hidden worries also quietly emerged: "The pressure on the second child is even greater, and taking care of the child has become a top priority."
In 2018, 36-year-old Yang Wen welcomed her first baby. After maternity leave, she returned to work, and who would take care of the child became a difficult family problem.
At this time, Yang Wen's father-in-law was exhausted from helping the eldest son with the baby and was hospitalized. "We are too embarrassed to open our mouths to our parents." Yang Wen and her husband turned their attention to the nanny market.
After several months of investigation and trials, she sighed, "It is even more difficult to find a suitable nanny for the child."
It was hard to find a nanny, and the tension in the house was everywhere.
Yang Wen said that at that time, the home was full of cameras, and when she was free from work or during lunch breaks, she couldn't help but turn on the monitoring software to remotely watch her aunt's daily life with the baby, "for fear that the child might make a mistake."
Before the Spring Festival in 2023, a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily walked into Li Xiao's home and saw children's toys piled up in the living room. The two-year-old Xixi was lively and cute, running and playing non-stop.
And she and her husband Chen Yiran have to think about who will take care of their children when they go to work after the holiday.
The in-laws still have jobs, and the health of the parents does not allow it. It is difficult for the four elderly people in the family to bear the burden of raising the baby.
Li Xiao and his wife began to pin their hopes on nursery institutions and childcare nannies.
But the child is young, and the nursery institution does not accept it.
During that time, Li Xiao was looking for his aunt while taking care of the baby alone, "I was really busy."
Li Xiao's job has a high salary, but she is quite busy. She had to quit her job and concentrate on taking care of her children at home.
After bumps and bumps, Li Xiao finally found a suitable aunt, and the financial pressure followed. "The monthly salary of the aunt and hourly workers is 15,000 yuan." Li Xiao shook his head, "I have to go to work again to make money."
For Li Huaxi, a father born in the 90s, it was a helpless move to invite his mother and mother-in-law, who are over half a century old, to Beijing to take care of their two-year-old son. "When I was renting a house in Beijing, I searched for nearby childcare institutions , almost nothing within two kilometers.”
"Babysitters take care of the baby, parents take care of the baby, and full-time take care of the baby" has become the life of young families today.
Huang Qi, member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and part-time vice chairman of the Shanghai Women's Federation, has been concerned about childcare issues since 2017.
She learned that nearly 80% of the child caregivers in the families of children aged 0-3 years old surveyed by the Shanghai Scientific Parenting Base are grandparents, and nearly 50% of the grandparents feel "helpless", especially the grandparents who have taken care of the "first child". The proportion of those who no longer want to take care of their "second child" is on the rise, and they hope to send their children to professional and trustworthy day care institutions.
High cost and distance from home are the biggest obstacles for infants and young children to enter nursery
"No child care scares away many young parents' willingness to have children." Li Xiao said that many friends around him are willing to have a second or third child, "but it is very difficult for the whole family to take care of a child. regeneration".
In fact, not only the elderly, it is the first choice for parents to send their children to professional and reliable childcare institutions.
However, the high cost and the distance from home have become "blockers" for infants and young children to enter nursery schools.
On September 22, 2022, the 43rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 15th Beijing Municipal People's Congress heard the "Report on the Construction of the City's Childcare Service System" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report").
The "Report" shows that the main considerations for parents to send childcare are the distance between the childcare institution and the family and the service price.
In the concept of Zou Jingjing, a mother of three children, "children need to get in touch with the outside world more", she especially hopes to send her children to "nursery schools that are safe and knowledgeable" earlier.
When her daughter was two and a half years old, Zou Jingjing enrolled her in a private bilingual childcare class, which cost 7,900 yuan a month.
With the arrival of the twins, Zou Jingjing deeply felt the "pressure" of childcare expenses.
In order to alleviate the pressure on the elderly to bring up their babies, Zou Jingjing began to look for childcare institutions when the twins were 20 months old. "There are almost no public institutions near my home, and the minimum monthly fee for private institutions is 7,800 yuan."
Based on the family income, Zou Jingjing chose a chain brand nursery institution with a monthly fee of 9,800 yuan.
"9,800 yuan is only the price for one child, and two children have to pay double the fee for child care."
The monthly childcare fee of nearly 20,000 yuan made Zou Jingjing's family really "overwhelmed".
After careful consideration, she asked her mother-in-law to take the twin sons back to her hometown in Shijiazhuang to attend nursery classes, and the family lived a "shuangcheng life".
"The children are cheerful, gain weight, and can put on their own shoes." Two weeks after entering the nursery, Zou Jingjing was pleasantly surprised to find that the two-year-old twin sons grew up rapidly. They not only knew how to wait in line, but also learned simple nursery rhymes.
Now, Zou Jingjing and his wife live in Beijing with their daughter. Every weekend, Zou Jingjing's family will carry out a big rotation, taking their daughter to grandma's side, and taking the twins back to Beijing to take care of them.
"It is obviously not appropriate for the aunt or the elderly to take the two-year-old child to squeeze the subway or take the bus to go to the nursery every day." In the view of Bao's father Chen Yiran, the distance from home is one of the important indicators for choosing a childcare institution.
Yang Wen is more inclined to choose inclusive childcare services provided by public childcare institutions and non-profit childcare institutions, with affordable prices and guaranteed quality.
In Li Huaxi’s view, the cost of childcare should not exceed 30% of the family’s total income.
Li Xiao said that if the childcare institution has a good environment, strong teachers, and is close to home, he is "willing to pay for these high-quality conditions", but the total monthly expenditure should not exceed 15,000 yuan.
Solving childcare difficulties urgently requires efforts from multiple parties
On September 1, 2022, Du Xixue, head of the Population and Family Department of the National Health Commission, said at the State Council Policy Briefing held by the State Council Information Office that at present, my country's childcare institutions are facing difficulties in reducing costs, stabilizing enrollment, and responding to risks. challenge.
Looking back on the five-year development history of the nursery institution, Xin Jing, a mother born in the 90s, has a deep understanding.
In 2017, Xin Jing co-founded an international childcare center with another mother, dedicated to providing scientific childcare services for infants and families aged 0-3.
Xin Jing said with emotion, "Rent and teachers are the two mountains that crush some childcare institutions."
She said that national policies have clear regulations on the floors, lighting, ventilation, etc. of nursery schools, which determines that the rent of nursery facilities is generally high.
The rent is expensive and the labor cost is higher.
Xin Jing introduced that the teacher-student ratio in the nursery she runs is currently 1:3 for infants, 1:5 for small children, and 1:7 for seniors. Due to the lack of qualified childcare talents, the childcare institutions themselves have borne the responsibility. A large number of personnel training work, the operating cost is difficult to compress.
The "Report" shows that in 2020, the average monthly fee of childcare institutions in Beijing will exceed 7,000 yuan, which is relatively high, and venue rent and labor costs account for 80.9% of operating costs.
Xin Jing said bluntly that she hopes that the relevant government departments can provide low-cost venue rentals, and at the same time increase the training of nursery teachers to improve the level of education.
On August 16, 2022, 17 departments including the National Health and Medical Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Improving and Implementing Active Fertility Support Measures", proposing to improve maternity leave policies and accelerate the development of affordable rental housing and housing policies Measures such as tilting toward families with many children.
Some experts commented that the state has introduced a policy of vigorous efforts and multiple measures aimed at reducing the cost of childbirth, upbringing, and education, so that more young people "are willing to give birth, raise well, and teach well."
With the introduction of the national top-level design, various places have begun to explore ways to break the situation of inclusive childcare.
In November 2022, Binzhou City, Shandong Province will establish a joint meeting and liaison system for infant care services for infants and young children under 3 years old.
Recently, the official website of the Hangzhou Municipal Health Commission released the list of infant growth stations in Hangzhou. By the end of 2022, a total of 428 stations have been completed and put into use. The unified logo of "Little Sapling" aims to create a 15-minute infant care service circle.
Huang Qi suggested that we should try to integrate senior colleges and nursery places. The elderly with children go to class during the day and pick up their children from nursery institutions after class. This will not only help the children learn to live in groups, but also relieve the pressure on the elderly to take care of their children.
"I'm very moved. The national and local policies are responding, which shows that our needs have been seen." Chen Yiran said.
Li Xiao expressed the hope that the government can strengthen the supervision and review of the conditions for the establishment of nursery institutions and the qualifications of employees, and promote the training and appraisal of vocational skills in nursery institutions.
At the two sessions held in various places in 2023, deputies to the people's congresses and members of the CPPCC in Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Beijing, Shanghai and other provinces and cities all offered advice and suggestions for childcare services, suggesting that multiple efforts should be made to "support" the future of infants and young children.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Han Yangxian Oujie Source: China Youth Daily
Version 07, February 6, 2023