Children make dad's tough life worthwhile

I have two daughters. The eldest is 16 and she's studying in a junior middle school in my hometown of Lianzhou, Guangdong province. But my wife and I, along with our 11-year-old daughter who is in the fifth grade, live in Zhuhai. My parents live in the Lianzhou countryside. It feels horrible that my family is split.

I work as a mechanic in Zhuhai and the annual family income is around 50,000 yuan ($8,250), but there is little left after taking care of the monthly bills.

Because she doesn't live with us, my eldest daughter is distant from me. Although my parents visit her from time to time, they seldom communicate with her.

In 2010, my eldest daughter studied at a private secondary school in Zhuhai, but the tuition fees were 3,200 yuan per semester. My younger daughter's primary school required a one-time payment of 2,500 yuan, with subsequent tuition payments of 200 yuan to 300 yuan a month. Local students, on the other hand, don't have to pay high tuition fees.

After 2010, I took a job in Hebei province to earn more money. I got the job because of a relative's referral, and I was supposed to make 6,000 yuan a month. Although the job was far from home, I made the choice to go. Unfortunately, I only received 2,800 yuan per month. My family then begged me to come back to Zhuhai.

You will encounter many problems regardless of whether or not your children are around. If they are around, you need to both work and take care of them. After you get home from work, you have to cook and remind the children to do their homework. It's very tiring.

I heard from my eldest daughter's classmates that she now goes to Internet cafes. I'm worried she will become addicted to them. But since my wife and I are so far away, we don't know what to do.

My biggest wish is that my family could be reunited once again. When the children are home, no matter how painful or tiring life is, chatting with them makes my life a little easier. When the children are not around, I only think about problems at the factory.

We don't have enough money to buy a house in the city, so we will likely return home in the future. I hope our children will stay near my hometown when they grow up and they can take care of us when we get old.

Fan Feifei was talking toOu Haisheng.