A 15-year-old schoolgirl in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, was forced to live with her grandmother after her parents divorced. On Jan 28, she allegedly strangled her grandmother for refusing to give her pocket money and then torched the house to cover the crime. All social sectors need to take measures to ensure the security of families in which grandparents take care of children because of the complications they, especially the left-behind children, go through, says an article in New Express Daily. Excerpts:

Grandparents can indeed take care of children, but not all of them can do so alone. Because of their advancing age, grandparents themselves need special attention and thus are not capable of providing emotional support to their grandchildren.

Grandparents can offer good moral lessons, but their advice may not always be helpful for minors in these changing times. Once children feel that their grandparents' teachings are not of much help, they become rebellious. The tragedy in Guangzhou is an extreme example of such a case and should be a lesson for such families.

Though three decades of reform and opening-up have drastically improved the economy and quality of citizens' life, they have failed to teach many people how to bring up a child.

The employment rate of women in China reached 75 percent in 2010, the highest in the BRIC group. But that also means Chinese women face more pressure from family and work both.

The best scenario would be for women to look after their children as long as possible to relieve them from mental stress and save senior citizens from the tough task of taking care of their grandchildren.

(China Daily 02/07/2012 page9)