All alone in the nest!

I realized that I had drafted the content of this post 3 years ago. One of my Chinese classmate has come to India on an consulting assignment and raised this topic again. She was greatly fascinated by our interwoven and intimate family culture. Here's a nice photo with Indianized Chinese classmates during my wedding

My post drafted in 2007:

I have often wondered at my chinese classmates, many of them grew up all alone in their family due to the single child policy. To some of them, it was a positive step to control the ever increasing population, to some it didnt matter. However, I could only sympathize with one of the girls who longed to have a sibling to share life with. She was quite curious to know about the family value system of India, how siblings engage in friendly fights, how we bath, eat, sleep and play together as children, and not to speak about the marriage ceremonies which turns out to be a child's delight.

Coming back to china, I can't agree more with the officials on the need to control population in china. However, this has a cascading effect on the overall society. A single child in the entire family means parents shower unmoderated love and affection on the child and sometimes and most of the times, tend to spread their control over the son/daughter even after they have grown up. This leads to natural tensions in the family as their cherished son/daughter want to be independant enough to take their decisions.

As they dont have a second child to dot on, this often results in an emotional state for parents.