Next Generation of Hongkongese More Spoiled Than Ever
The next generation of Hongkongese are more spoiled than ever. Survey revealed 8 out of 10 one-year-olds can not eat on their own, had to be fed by parents or nannies.
Hong Kong has one of the lowest birth rate in the world, with less than 1 rearing average. Although China’s one-child policy does not affect Hong Kong, due to the hardwork in raising children, many couples Hong Kong only have one child. University conducted a survay interviewing 1,100 some families, showing the majority feel Hong Kong’s only child are becoming more spoiled becasue the parents are over-protective of them. Not only does it feel this way, facts prove over-protecting children may not be good for them. Survey shows Hong Kong’s infants have hight % of doctor visits, with 3.47 doctor visit every 6 months. That’s to the doctor’s once every month and a half.
S.K. Cheung says
To Charles:
you’ve done a faithful translation. But it’d be nice if the original site had a link to this “study”.
Despite the connotation, is it that remarkable that 1 year old HKer’s can’t feed themselves? Have typical 1 year old PRC citizens mastered the art of chopsticks? More importantly, do 1 year olds who still need to be fed become underachieving adults? Or is it an idle stat that has no bearing on anything?
It doesn’t surprise me that today’s kids are “spoiled” and “protected” moreso than in yesteryear. If nothing else, I used to run around the streets and play with neighbourhood kids, but I wouldn’t dream of letting my kids do that today without supervision. However, how do doctors’ visits reflect “over-protection”? Unless you’re accusing HK parents of being hypochondriacs…by proxy, no less. Furthermore, considering that kids need to be immunized during well-baby visits at one, two, and six months of age, thereby accounting for 3 of your 3.47 doctor visits at least for the first 6 months of their first year, it would make that statistic look a lot less peculiar.
Looks like whoever did this “study” (was it HKU) had a little too much time on his/her hands, and it’s unfortunate they didn’t devote their time to a more rigorous hypothesis.
Charles Liu says
SKC, I honestly don’t remember when I started grabing food or use a spoon:
http://www.google.com/search?q=infant+self+feeding
Raj says
Charles, you’ve linked to a google search for self-feeding, but the top results talk about infants moving towards self-feeding. I don’t see anything that suggests if they’re not feeding themselves by their first birthday it’s time to panic.
Not that there’s nothing in the claim that many children are spoilt these days. I think that some parents all over the world have become too paranoid, fearing that there is a paedophile around every corner and the next time their child falls off the swing it will be a serious injury. Yet they won’t teach them how to cross the road safely. I mean, Jesus, it’s like they think the world has only become dangerous for children in the last 20 years!
TonyP4 says
The article is misleading. It is quite contrary to the truth.
HKers is similar to most developed countries. It is relatively rich from per capita income and average home price. The average house is small and apartment style but costs far more than the one in US – many times more on per square feet.
Even for HK, it is a big jump in living standard than 30 years ago. The young generation is more educated and smarter than most in the world (judging from the world competition in math. and science. English is better mastered in HK as a secondary language than most other countries in Asia.
There are more Rolls Royces per square mile than any place in the world (at least used to be and I have not checked the recent statistics). HKers are rich due to the big increases in the property prices (compared to 30 years ago for example). HKers are rich as they’re the managers owning a lot of factories in S. China. I can go on forever without even doing some basic research from the net.
Not counting HK, China is too big to generalized (like rural and urban). Basically with one child policy, children are spoiled by four grand parents and the own mom and pa. You can see a lot of fat kids that you do not see 30 years ago but this generation has more opportunity (none in Cultural Revolution era).
raventhorn4000 says
HK real estate market is going up again, boosting speculation.