The joys and tribulations of the two-children generation

Enthusiasm to have more offspring is muted

For 40 years family planning policies had kept a tight lid on how many children Chinese couples could have, but now that that lid has been loosened, there seems to be no great rush to start producing more babies.

That becomes clear from a survey about the impact of second-child policy on family education published by the All-China Women's Federation and the National Innovation Center for Assessment of Basic Education Quality jointly published in December.

Among more than 10,300 families with children under 15 years old around China, 53.3 percent expressed no desire to have a second child, 20.5 percent were willing to do so and 26.2 percent were uncertain.

Those from developed regions and cities expressed less willingness to have a second baby, especially those in Beijing and East China.

Key factors that seemed to influence the decision on having a second child were the availability of public services such as education, medical care, health and living environment. Other main factors were kindergartens and schools, the quality of infant products, the living environment and access to medical treatment.

Parents said they wanted to have a second child mainly because they believe children bring happiness to the family, and a second child made the family complete and he or she would provide companionship for the first child.

About 61.6 percent of respondents said their parents helped take care of children before kindergarten, and 78.8 percent said their education values differed from their parents.

More than half said they were worried about how to establish close relations between the two children and tackle problems if the two could not get along with one another.