They are also Parents They Are Also Parents - A Study on Migrant Workers | Page 62

CCR CSR | A Study on Migrant Workers with Left-behind Children in China | August 2013
CCR CSR | A Study on Migrant Workers with Left-behind Children in China | August 2013
the children and look after them. This dilemma has plagued A-ying with guilt, A-ying is anxious, being far away from home but she needs to be attentive at
particularly with the older child. work and try to stay calm. She says her son’s behavior problems are her fault.
The people working around her do not know what she is going through.
“The older child was often sick when he was one, and I had to work, and the
medical costs in the city were expensive, so my only option was to send him “A good parent needs to always take care of their children … raising a child is
back home,” says A-ying. a parent's responsibility, after all, and parental care plays an essential role in
the child's growth,” she says.
Later, even though her economic conditions had improved enough to allow
her son to study at a city school, she worried that it was difficult for non- Like many migrant workers, A-ying and her husband save a lot, and their
local residents to progress to junior high school, and along with the language major overhead is sending money to their children. But A-ying remains
differences and the fact that her eldest was an introverted child, she decided concerned about their relations. “My ideal is that our children treat us as
it was better to let the child study in the hometown. A-ying spent only very friends, and use their needs and feelings. I want to tell them that Mom and
short periods with her children – a month during the summer vacation, 10 Dad love you.”
days during Spring Festival.
When it comes to help for families with left-behind children, A Ying said, she
“The greatest difficulty I have with the older child is that I can’t be part of his hopes the factory can help solve some of her children’s education difficulties.
life,” she says with a look of visible sadness. “Every time I call, he is unwilling She says she would welcome free summer camps, paid leave to look after
to pick up, and even if he picks up he isn’t willing to say anything. I ask him her children, and the establishment of education funds, and she says she also
questions, but he doesn’t seem to want to answer, even though he is certainly hopes the government can help solve schooling difficulties, and that welfare
complaining about his parents not looking after him.” organizations can give children more positive guidance.
A-ying has spent summer vacations with her son, helping him with homework. Case 4: No matter how difficult, children should be close at hand
She found he had psychological conflicts, preferring to write down issues that Jiang Shuilian, 38 years old, parent of two children
were buried, but unwilling to answer her questions. In her view, the problem
is lack of parental care.
Jiang Shuilian felt bad for leaving her eldest son back at home. No matter
what the difficulties, she says she thinks children should be brought up around
“The reason he dislikes us is because he blames us for not taking care of him,
their parents.
because he did not get proper care. Living together would have helped make
our relationship more affectionate,” A-ying says.
Jiang started to work when she was 17. She changed jobs a few times before
she had children. Later, she worked for 10 years at a knitting factory, because
“I wanted to go back and look after the children when they were in junior high she needed a stable income after having a child. Today, the eldest son is 18,
school, but I don’t have a diploma and I couldn’t find a good job, and that while the younger son is five.
would mean my husband has to work hard by himself.”
Jiang feels down when the subject of children is brought up.
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