Couples in China are hiring ‘professional parents’ to raise their children: is it a good move?

Many people may find it amusing and disconcerting to know that the rich… couples in china ‘we are hiring’professional parents‘, either ‘childhood companions‘ raising their children. The latter’s role involves taking care of the children’s daily needs, helping them with their studies and also taking them out to play and do other activities.

The “professional parents” who are hired to do all of this are qualified, fluent in multiple languages, and some are also experts in child psychology. For those who confuse these professionals with babysitters, well, that’s not the case. There’s a reason they are labeled as “professional parents” and it’s because they are deeply involved in a child’s life. From meeting a child’s emotional needs, traveling with them to taking them to the doctor, they do all of this and more.

Payal Narang, a child psychologist, says: “The only word that comes to mind is shocking. I am a firm believer that you have the choice to have a child and if you choose to have a child, then you should be the one to raise it. Even if you can get help to do so, you are still the parent. And if you cannot meet this requirement, then in my opinion, you should not have children.”

While a report says that hiring “professional parents” to raise their children is becoming a global trend, there are many parents who also find the concept a bit alarming. One parent shared under anonymity that it is the term “professional parents” that bothers him. “When a child has biological parents, why is it necessary to call people “professional parents”? I wonder how a child will accept it and whether he will be able to distinguish between the two things,” he said.

Chinese couples who aspire to greater social mobility and want to continue to thrive in the professional world hire professional parents to ensure that their children do not feel alone and are under someone’s care and guidance. However, if a parent has little or no time to invest in raising their child, this is likely to affect the parent-child relationship. “I don’t think the parent and child share a healthy relationship in this case. Without investing their time, love and attention, a bond cannot be forged with the child and since that role is fulfilled by someone else, they may treat their own parents as a distant aunt or uncle,” opines Payal.

Payal also shares one of the most glaring drawbacks of this approach of hiring a caregiver to be with the child all the time. “What parents need to understand is that this is a paid position and that means that the services of these professionals can be cut off at any time. In such situations, it is the child who will suffer the most as they would lose their primary caregiver and have no connection with their biological parents. If the professional parent and the child connect well, it may not be a bad option in itself, however, I think they may lack the innate instincts that a biological parent may have,” Payal explains.

Come to think of it, though many parents will scoff at the idea, there are also others who will relate to it and feel that it is the need of the hour to seek the services of a professional to raise their children. More and more people are becoming individualistic and many find it difficult to juggle being good parents and taking care of the home and work at the same time. “Instead of giving their children only half of their attention and feeling like bad parents, they are happy to pay a professional to raise them. These parents continue to have children because they want to have a family, but they do not want to devote their time and effort to raising children,” says Payal.

What do you think about this? Do you support the idea or oppose it? Let us know in the comments below.