Not Nice To Neglect Mom

It's not nice to neglect mom and dad.  Sad to say, as a society becomes more prosperous a bigger percentage of adult children move away from and forget about their parents, often condemning mom and dad to abject living conditions and loneliness. Well, China now has reached the point where this is a big problem, as the one child policy is producing one stinker of a kid who moves away now that he or she has the economic mobility that a more affluent society allows. Boy, China needs some Jewish moms to nag their kids to take care of them.

So in China, the national legislature has just amended its laws on the elderly to require that adult children visit their aged parents "often" — or risk being sued by them. Oh my, mom is being told to sue junior. But the amendment does not specify how frequently such visits should occur. State media say the new clause will allow elderly parents who feel neglected by their children to take them to court. The new law fits the many media reports abound of elderly parents being abandoned or ignored by their children.   For example, the Chinese media (with government approval of those kinds of stories) reported that a grandmother in her 90s in the prosperous eastern province of Jiangsu had been forced by her son to live in a pig pen for two years. News outlets in China now frequently carry stories about other parents being abused or neglected, or of children seeking control of their elderly parents' assets without their knowledge.

It's partly because of the new aging society in China. In early less prosperous economic times the number of residents to reach golden oldie age was much smaller. But now the society is filled with lonely and economically stressed elderly. The breakup of the traditional extended family in China creates a mess because and there are few affordable alternatives, such as retirement or care homes for the elderly, which enables the elderly can live on their own.

Too, the harshness of new China now somewhat discourages the kind of close relationships in the family that remind the kids of the old China axiom that children should care for their parents for as long as they are alive. This is an interesting change in the culture in China. It is sort of an acceptance of the concept that is prevalent in the west, that kids should leave home and make their own families and ways. Yet, China doesn't have the welfare safety net of many western countries. There are few nursing homes, no social security payments to the elderly etc.

Hmmmm Maybe China should recruit some Jewish moms to straighten out that mess.