Have children or not? How many children to have? Originally a matter for the little couple or the family to think about and face, but now, with the aging and declining fertility rate, it has become a matter of concern for the whole country, one of the very important links is to have a child, who will be responsible for taking care of it before sending it to kindergarten? To a certain extent, the difficulty of bringing a baby is an important reason why working couples dare not give birth and do not want to give birth. How should society coordinate this? Newsweek's focus this week: Who will bring the baby before kindergarten?
Li Ying, 39, and her husband both work for a construction company in Chengdu. Since her husband's project is in a foreign country, the two children in the family are usually taken care of by Li Ying. Early that morning, Li Ying took her young son to the unit. Because she explained the situation to the staff of the unit union a day earlier, under coordination, the unit canteen prepared breakfast for her.
In the case of taking care of children, even if someone helps prepare breakfast, it will take an hour to finish this breakfast. Li Ying said that most mornings, she has to cook and take care of her children.
Li Ying: After giving birth to my second child, I obviously felt that I didn't have enough energy, and probably many mothers of the second child feel the same way. After becoming a mother, I feel that I am getting stronger and stronger, not to use strong women to describe them, but to use superwomen.
Li Ying said that although the unit gave 158 days of maternity leave, it was still not enough for her who was still breastfeeding, and there were many emergencies to take care of her children during breastfeeding.
Li Ying: The company also considers this problem, so it can take an hour of breastfeeding leave every day, take children to projects or leave work early. Now just 1 year and 8 months, he is running around and interested in everything, so he must be accompanied by an adult.
According to the statistics of the construction company where Li Ying works, similar to Li Ying's dual-income family, there are 60 households in the company, covering 25 projects, because the projects are scattered throughout the country, for breastfeeding employees, the company in addition to transferring them to relatively easy jobs, there is also a "mommy baby house" in the location of the project that is relatively concentrated during the breastfeeding period. On Friday, the company upgraded the "Mommy Baby House" with a baby cot and baby seat, and a rest area.
Gao Zhaofeng, vice chairman of the construction company labor union: Our company actively supports the construction of "Mommy Baby House" and mother and baby room for the project department by allocating funds to the policy, so as to solve their worries and let children grow up healthier.
Li Ying's company is a large-scale enterprise with a very complete trade union system in Sichuan Province, and has corresponding care policies for breastfeeding employees, including supporting maternal and infant spaces and relatively long maternity leave.
However, the "mother's post" implemented in Guangdong Province, although the rest time of maternity leave is relatively short, but its convenience of taking leave at any time has attracted everyone's attention. The Guangdong Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security recently issued a draft for employment on the implementation of "mother's post", which gives a clear definition of the newly proposed "mother's post", which is mainly used to attract women under the legal working age who have the obligation to support children under the age of 12 to help mothers who need to take care of their children and have work needs. A factory in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, transferred a group of employees according to the setting of "mother post", and 30-year-old Liang Xuehong is one of them.
Liang Xuehong has four children and has been working at the factory for three years, because her twin daughters are still nursing, so she can only take the children at home. After learning that the factory had set up a "mother post", he discussed with the factory to transfer jobs.
Liang Xuehong, an employee of the "Mother Post": I was transferred to the third floor because I came back from maternity leave. I had looked for a job before I came here, and I rarely went eight hours without overtime.
Liang Xuehong said that although the salary after the transfer is not as good as before, it can still make up for some expenses for the family.
Liang Xuehong, an employee of "Mother Gang": It's about 2,000 yuan. Sometimes we ask for leave, sometimes the children are uncomfortable, so we take leave of absence, which is about 2,000 yuan, enough to spend on ourselves.
Before setting up the "Mother Post", Liang Xuehong's company conducted a thorough investigation and found that some job seekers could not adapt to the regular working hours and overtime of the factory because they had to take care of their children to go to school. This is also an important reason for the company's "labor shortage" to intensify.
Yu Qing, vice chairman of Zhongshan Yuechen Electronics Industry Co., Ltd.: The total number of people in our company is generally about 1,000, and women account for more than 70%, which is stable for a long time. The number of people on the job in the "mother post", we are now counting 278 people, and the "mother post" front line accounts for about 30% to 40% of our employment. In terms of treatment, it is five insurances and one housing fund, all of which are complete.
The person in charge of the factory said that in response to the establishment of the "mother post", the local government has issued 18 policies, including a subsidy policy for employers, which meets the employment standards of the "mother post", and subsidizes 400 yuan per person per month. After the introduction of the policy, it solved part of the labor cost pressure of the enterprise, and also solved the family work needs of both working and taking care of children.
He Lingchuan, head of the Employment and Entrepreneurship Section of Zhongshan Human Resources and Social Security Bureau: In July this year, we are also preparing to optimize the "mother's post" policy, mainly to adjust the scope of the post, from the original for mothers taking care of children under the age of 12 to fathers. Further expand the coverage of the policy.
In the case that childcare institutions are not yet popular, a considerable number of children can only entrust the parents of their parents, that is, the elderly, to help, but in fact, there are many conditions to be met. How are childcare institutions under the age of three developing now? Can you give young parents a little more a wider path?
On weekday mornings, parents send their children to kindergarten as usual, except that the children have not yet reached the kindergarten school age. However, thanks to the kindergarten's childcare classes for children under the age of 3, parents who are busy in the workplace have new options for childcare.
Lin Li, director of the kindergarten in the east of Yanchang Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai: Older children will say that if he is unhappy today or encounters any problems, he will tell his parents, but we will not tou. With such young children, their life care must be very important.
The kindergarten's nursery class is equipped with 2 kindergarten teachers and 1 nursery worker for every 20 children, and the kindergarten teachers do not undertake clear teaching tasks, but to ensure the safety and health of the children, but also to take care of their emotional and individual needs.
Lin Li, director of the kindergarten in the east of Yanchang Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai: More to follow their development, for example, when some children come, he must take a nap and take something he likes, I can't say no, but should feel right. We first follow the parenting model of the family, so we nursery children, each child will have a home visit before entering the kindergarten, each of our children's development, there is a personalized file, we regularly give personalized files to parents.
In fact, as early as 11 years ago, this kindergarten opened a nursery class, and so far, it has developed to 60 nursery places, according to the Shanghai public kindergarten fee standard, each person only charges 225 yuan per month for childcare, inclusively serving the surrounding families in need. For the kindergarten, accepting the child also means taking responsibility, how to reassure parents, the kindergarten has also worked on the details.
Lin Li, director of the kindergarten in the east of Yanchang Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai: We try to let parents see some of the situation of their children in the kindergarten. When we closed the door and didn't let the parents enter the kindergarten, he was actually a little worried, and for two weeks before entering the kindergarten, we allowed parents to enter our kindergarten and accompany the children. Let's say he came at noon, and we invited him to taste our kindergarten lunch. I think at that time, what impressed me more deeply was that after the parents came, they asked us, I think this meal is a bit hard, can it be softer. Therefore, I think that parents can act as supervisors and evaluators, which can better improve the quality of our education.
In this kindergarten, the majority of children in the nursery class are 2 to 3 years old, and the children who arrive every day are relatively fixed. In addition, the kindergarten has a "baby house" for children under the age of 2, which allows for more refined temporary care in the event of an emergency at home. At present, nearly 1,000 kindergartens in Shanghai have opened similar nursery classes, accounting for 60% of all kindergartens.
Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute: The best way is to use the resources of kindergartens to provide childcare for children under the age of three, so this time should be connected. It can be noted that kindergartens are under the management of the education department, and childcare is under the management of the health department. Our education and health departments should work together to establish an integrated childcare and childcare coordination mechanism.
Ms. Hu is a white-collar worker in the workplace, her eldest daughter is in the third grade of primary school, and her younger son will not be able to attend kindergarten until September this year.
Hu Jiayin, a parent of a child in the nursery school: In the past, as soon as the child had a fever, I immediately asked the company for leave and so on, but now sometimes it feels difficult, and this time makes me feel that there are some difficult places in my heart. If you hire some family nannies or childcare teachers to bring them, it may now take eight or nine thousand a month or even more in downtown Shanghai. In contrast, childcare is cheaper than hiring a childcare teacher.
Raising children well has taken a lot of effort for every family, building a childbirth-friendly society, and it is also necessary to face the actual difficulties of moms and dads and provide more targeted public services.
Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute: In fact, we found that each family has a lot of needs, especially in the range of 0 to 3 years old, there are many different needs. From 0 to 1 year old, we basically encourage families to take care of their children, and families with conditions still put their children at home for care. We have an international practice to give such families, on the one hand, we extend maternity leave, and on the other hand, we want to give them a certain childcare subsidy, so as to solve the problem of taking care of their children at home. Children aged 1 to 3, from the perspective of the international community, are basically provided by childcare institutions, and this stage is actually to include childcare in the government's financial budget and strengthen investment.
Before kindergarten, the issue of childcare is not a trivial matter, and the experience of many countries shows that it is the most effective of all pro-fertility policies. Are childcare institutions reassuring? How is the career of the nursery teacher now? What difficulties need to be overcome in order to develop inclusive childcare?
Nursery teacher Liang Lulian: Now there are 15 children in our class, the youngest girl is only 1 year and 6 months, and the older child is 2 years and 10 months. According to the requirements of the state, 1 to 2 years old, 1 teacher can take care of 5 children. We have 3 teachers providing professional care. My name is Liang Lulian, I am 36 years old, I am a nursery teacher at Black Seed Puhui Nursery School, and I am also a mother of two children.
Before 8 a.m., after sending her 4-year-old daughter to a nearby kindergarten, Liang Lulian returned to the nursery and began to welcome the babies from the surrounding community who would spend about 9 hours here.
Like most parents, many troubles haunted Liang Lulian's family, who came to Chengdu to work six years ago. In desperation, she gave up her job in a pharmaceutical company after graduating from undergraduate to become a full-time mother. As a new mother, the old man cannot help her in her hometown, which is not a small challenge for her.
Nursery teacher Liang Lulian: After the birth of my eldest daughter, I usually have a lot of troubles in terms of parenting, at first I learned some parenting information on the Internet, but sometimes I found that this information did not seem to be very comprehensive and scientific enough. I learned about the profession of childcare worker at one opportunity, and after studying, training, and testing, I obtained the certificate of childcare worker.
Last year, childcare teachers and childcare teachers were included in the category of life care service personnel in the Occupational Classification Dictionary (2022 Edition) and became a new type of occupation. The state's requirements for nursery teachers in childcare institutions are higher than those of kindergarten teachers. In addition to the most basic teacher qualification certificate, they must also be able to master the knowledge of daily health care and nursing of infants and young children, and also be able to scientifically train the characteristics of thinking, language, and social communication of infants and young children aged 0 to 3. With two experiences with babies and a period of formal training, Liang Lulian quickly became a professional nursery.
Nursery teacher Liang Lulian: Usually the children we come into contact with are 0 to 3 years old, and their emotional expression and cognition are limited, so we will consider the age characteristics and individual differences of the children, and scientifically guide them from different aspects. The children are relatively young, and some cannot speak, or babbling. So we have to have love and patience. Parents send their children over, we are at ease, and professional things are left to professional people to do.
In fact, the current society's lack of understanding and trust in childcare institutions is not high, which also causes the sense of identity of childcare teachers to be relatively low. So that in terms of recruiting talents, childcare institutions are difficult to match the attractiveness of kindergartens and early education institutions. Previously, Hangzhou, Lanzhou and other cities had included nursery teachers and childcare workers in the city's directory of urgently needed occupations. This year, Xiamen also proposed that the subsidy standard for the training of nursery teachers and childcare workers has been increased by 20% compared with ordinary vocational work.
Song Jian, deputy director of the Population and Development Research Center of Chinese Minmin University: I think the emergence of professional nursery teachers is to solve two problems. One is to solve the worries of family infant and child care, and the second is to provide more employment options for society. From a demographic point of view, the overall total pressure and structural challenges of the Chinese situation coexist, and the new profession and new format of nursery teachers will provide more possibilities for employment. The demand in this industry has been very strong, but it is a little uneven, for example, the care of children may occur due to carelessness, and in general, the industry of childcare teachers should still be in its infancy.
According to data released by the National Health Commission, more than 30% of infant and young child families in mainland China have childcare needs, but the enrollment rate is only about 5.5%. It is far from the average enrolment rate of about 33% in OECD countries. Compared with kindergartens, the childcare service industry is in its infancy, and more exploration is needed in the future to benefit "ordinary people's families".
Song Jian, deputy director of the Population and Development Research Center of Chinese Minmin University: The demand for childcare services is the first stage of the demand for children's parenting and education in the family, which will affect the number of future births by influencing the family's fertility intention and fertility behavior. Therefore, in this sense, the current development of childcare services determines whether the future fertility rate can be effectively increased, to scientifically assess the demand for childcare services, to provide inclusive childcare services through multiple channels, of course, increase the supply of the government to play a leading role, encourage multi-subject establishment of childcare institutions to reduce the price of childcare as much as possible, to meet the childcare needs of families. The second cannot be ignored, that is, it is necessary to adapt measures to local conditions, because the demand for mainland childcare services is dynamically changing, and it is necessary to explore the service models with scientific characteristics in different regions.
Behind the decline in fertility and unwillingness to give birth, many times it is not that they do not want to give birth, but they dare not give birth, how to let everyone dare to give birth and want to give birth? This is something that the whole society has to work hard for, and it can't be too slow, but fast and good.
(Source: CCTV News Client)