Chinanews.com, Beijing, June 6 Question: How does inclusive childcare solve the anxiety of "raising a baby"?

Reporter Hao Lingyu

"Who will bring the baby when you give birth?" This is something that many families of childbearing age must consider. At present, couples of childbearing age are generally facing the dual pressure of old-age and childcare, and completely relying on the care of grandparents will also cause new troubles. How to meet the childcare needs of childbearing families, balance parenting expenses, companionship time, nursing professionalism and other factors, and solve the anxiety of couples of childbearing age "raising children"?

Recently, the reporter approached several inclusive childcare institutions in Nanjing to understand how inclusive childcare tries to solve the parenting problems faced by couples of childbearing age.

Lack of professional care to rely on is an important issue for couples of childbearing age. As a new mother, Xia Yi, who works in Nanjing's Jiangbei New District, encountered the dilemma of not being professional enough to raise her sister-in-law. After the maternity leave, Xia Yi needed to return to work, so she hired a childcare sister-in-law to assist the elderly in the family to take care of the baby, but in the end, because she had no patience with the child and could not appease her, she could only dismiss her.

After analyzing and comparing several childcare methods, Xia Yi chose the inclusive childcare institution opened in her work park. From four and a half months old when she entered the kindergarten to now reaching the age of one year, Xia Yi found that under the care of the nursery institution, the child's athletic ability and development have been maintained at a good level. "Every day when he was sent to the kindergarten, he would take the initiative to throw himself into the arms of the nursery, which was a recognition of the children."

Children are eating at the Nanjing Jiangbei New District Nursery Center, photo by China News Agency reporter Hao Lingyu

The local area has made great efforts to improve the professionalism of childcare practitioners. Tong Meiling, director of the Department of Pediatric Care of Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, said that at present, 12 districts, 137 community health service centers and some inclusive childcare institutions in Nanjing have comprehensively carried out scientific childcare training, and on the basis of the previous parenting and care training courses, a comprehensive childcare service center has been established to improve the ability of parents and childcare practitioners to nurture infants and young children under the age of 3 in the form of online training, door-to-door popularization, and organizing parenting skills competitions. It is understood that there are currently nearly 6600,5517 nursery practitioners in Nanjing, and a total of 83,6 people hold teacher qualification certificates and nursery teacher certificates, accounting for <>.<>%.

Inclusive childcare institutions charge lower fees, which reduces the cost of parenting for parenting. Xia Yi said that compared with the salary of local childcare sisters-in-law who often exceed 6000,4000 yuan (RMB, the same below), the inclusive childcare institution she chose charges less than <>,<> yuan a month, which relieves a lot of expenditure pressure. It is reported that the Jiangbei New Area Management Committee also encourages enterprises to set up their own childcare institutions, which are open to employees free of charge as part of employee benefits. At present, an enterprise's self-run childcare institution has accepted more than <> children. The relevant person in charge of the management committee said that all childcare institutions that receive government subsidies need to directly link subsidies with fees, accept supervision, and ensure that they return to the people.

Institutional nursery teachers playing with babies Photo by Hao Lingyu, reporter of China News Agency

In response to the fact that some parents' working hours cannot be fixed, Zhang Xingxing, the person in charge of the inclusive childcare institution in the park, said that the institution has launched timed childcare and extended time services to try to connect with parents' working hours as much as possible to help children's parents balance work and life. Since its establishment five years ago, the institution has taken care of more than 500 children of employees in the park, and is currently building a new phase II project in the park to expand childcare services to surrounding residents on the basis of meeting the needs of children of employees in the park.

According to reports, by the end of 2022, Nanjing has built a total of 1 city-level comprehensive service center for childcare and 1 comprehensive service center for district-level childcare; There are 13 municipal and district early childhood development guidance centers, 46 street guidance stations, 557 community parent-child rooms and 728 childcare institutions, 18 central inclusive projects, 36 provincial inclusive projects, and 72 municipal inclusive projects. The city can provide 43580,3 places and 9.<> places for <>,<> people.

For families with children in rural areas, the childcare institution at the doorstep is the foundation for parents to work with peace of mind. Zhao Juan's family lives in Baocheng Village, Yangjiang Town, Gaochun District, Nanjing, and works in a printing factory in the town. Since her husband is working in other places, the elderly in the family do not have the spare time to take care of their increasingly energetic grandchildren, so she has been paying attention to the opening of childcare institutions at her doorstep. "Last year, the kindergarten opened a childcare facility for children under 3 years old, and I immediately signed up and sent my children here."

Zhao Juan believes that grandparents with babies cannot meet their own childcare needs. "The elderly don't know how to limit their children's addiction to TV, and they don't quite understand how to play with their children." For Zhao Juan, having someone to take care of her is only a basic need, and the expectation of scientific and healthy growth of her children prompted her to choose a more professional inclusive childcare institution. Zhao Juan said that the child learned to brush his teeth and dress independently in the nursery class, and shared his collective life with himself every day, "which made me feel that he grew up all of a sudden."

The childcare needs of Xia Yi and Zhao Juan are the epitome of the parenting needs of young parents. Data show that at present, the number of infants under the age of 3 in China exceeds 3200 million, and about 1000 million new people are added every year. More than one-third of urban households have childcare needs, and this demand is even stronger in developed regions and first-tier cities. In the face of the demand gap, the coverage of inclusive childcare will be further expanded in the future, which may become a way to alleviate parenting anxiety.

Yang Wenzhuang, director of the Department of Population and Family of the National Health Commission, said in an interview that it is necessary to give full play to the leading role of the government, increase support for various childcare service institutions, focus on expanding the supply of inclusive childcare services, and help childcare institutions reduce operating costs and collection prices, so that families with infants and young children in need can afford to send and use them. Encourage the active participation of social forces to ensure that the number of trusts for a population of 2025,4 in the country will reach 5.<> by <>. (End)