Single child too dependent on parents

The mainland started its one-child policy in the 1970s to control the growth of its population. Population growth is now under control, but there are still a lot of problems.

Single-child families have a bad influence on society. Parents spend all their money on their children. They spoil their children by giving them everything they want. These children do not know how to take care of themselves because they have maids.

Recently, I read about university students on the mainland bringing all kinds of things with them when they move to dormitories. I think Beijing should give up the one-child policy. With the advances in economic growth and education, people can afford to have more than one child and know what birth control is.

Having more children in the family can also train them to communicate and interact with others.

Wu Ka-ping, Pooi To Middle School

From the Editor

Thank you for your letter, Ka-ping. The mainland's one-child policy certainly has a lot of drawbacks which people like to focus on. But critics don't often point out that China has improved dramatically over the past two decades in terms of being able to feed its population. Dropping the policy could result in a leap in population, which would mean extra competition for limited resources.

Like the mainland's so-called 'little emperors', many children in Hong Kong face the same problems. The reason families only have one child in Hong Kong is purely economical. It certainly costs a lot of money to raise a strong, healthy and successful child in this city.

You make an interesting point about children needing siblings to learn to share and communicate with others. But parents should be able to teach these qualities even if they only have one child.

Perhaps we need to realise that the time for multi-child families is over and we need a change of attitude about how single children should be raised. I wonder what other readers think.

Susan, Editor