Raising Child in China and U.S: Different

Raising a child is one of the most rewarding experiences one can ever have, but it also can be huge different from China and U.S.

One obvious difference is the academic. In China, children's academic performance is very important for most of parents. They usually spend lots of time to help their children learning and teach advanced knowledge every week since the children are born. Most children know over hundreds Chinese characters when they are three years old. And for that age children, they usually begin to learn the simple addition. But in U.S., the preschool teacher only teach from number 1 to number 5 in three years class.

With over 1.3 billion people, top schools are extremely competitive in China. Almost every Chinese parents want their children to go to top schools. But in U.S., going to the best university of their state is already good enough for many American families.

Another different field is children's social development. In China, the single-child policy has had a dramatic effect on the socialization of children. Only one child is allowed per healthy family, hence the child is the focal point of two parents and four grandparents. There is the likelihood of "spoiling" the child.

In China, when many kids play together, the tradition is the older child looks after the younger one and the younger one respects the older. In U.S., parents usually think the older kids and the younger kids have the equal rights.

China and U.S. are totally opposite on children's athletic development. The Chinese emphasis on athletic development, at the early ages, is to teach skills, not competition. Chinese parents usually allow their children to pursue the professional athletic careers only if their kids are not good at academic. While most American athletes don't move out of the house until they finish at least high school, many professional athletic kids in China are moved before they're 10.

Although the two societies differ in many raising-child practices areas, they share the same goal: raise a good child.