Macau Matters | Changing Childhoods

Richard Whitfield

I grew up feral compared to the kids of today, and most of my generation in the developed world could say much the same. Dad worked and mum was a “homemaker” and grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins all lived nearby and were seen frequently. From early primary we made our own way to and from school, walking, riding bicycles or using public transport without any adult oversight. We did little homework and after school and at weekends we roamed the neighborhood with friends making our own fun in the abundant open spaces, without a parent to be seen. We often ate at each other’s homes. It was another world that is rarely seen today.

This rose-colored past was not all good though, because kids today are noticeably better off. Infant mortality rates are much lower and today’s kids are much healthier, albeit over-weight from too many calories and not enough exercise. Parents now put much more effort into child-rearing, and kids today are much less likely to be neglected or to smoke or have alcohol/drug problems or become delinquent or teenage parents.

Women (and men) are now having much fewer children at an older age and often living in non-traditional (single parent) households. Children are growing up with “time poor” working parents in more dangerous urban environments and little extended family support and relatively little free interaction with other children or the natural world. To compensate, parents are investing money in their children and chauffeuring them between many professionally organized activities. They also provide the equipment and let their children spend a lot of time online.

Our understanding of the growth and development needs of children is much better now, and the strong links between education and subsequent life success are much clearer. And, unfortunately, the world has become much more competitive and this trend is set to continue. In recent decades communities have invested much more into education with good returns, eg nowadays many more children have the opportunity of getting a university degree.

We are still learning and the latest research is highlighting the crucial importance of each child’s initial home environment. At age 0-5 children are learning most rapidly and their brains are most plastic and weaknesses in their early development are very difficult to recover from later in life. We are starting to see a refocusing of community investment in this area. In particular, maternity and paternity leave is becoming much more common. Paternity leave is particularly important in strengthening the active involvement of fathers in raising their children. We are also starting to see universal day care and pre-school facilities that emphasize play and the physical and social development of 0-5 year olds.

I believe that we need to be doing more in both these areas in Macau. Many local families have both parents in full-time work, and often on shift. Extended family support for childcare while parents are working is also becoming less common. Unfortunately, paternity leave is still rare in Macau and most professional childcare does not operate for the extended hours needed for shift-work, and the quality of the childcare is often poor. This also extends to primary education, where teaching staff are often poorly paid and untrained. When do you think we will start to see some of Macau’s annual government surpluses used to extend maternity/paternity leave and expand and improve our local 0-5 childcare and kindergarten resources? Hopefully, soon!

In the last 20 years, secondary and tertiary education in Macau has greatly expanded and improved.  I believe it is time to “double down” and also put much more effort and resources into pre-school and primary education in Macau.