A businesswoman from central China who said she was too busy to look after her university student daughter and advertised for a domestic helper to do the job has stirred an online debate about how much responsibility parents should take for their children.
The woman, surnamed Liu, who lives in the Hubei city of Xiangyang, posted an advert on WeChat for a woman aged between 45 and 52 to cook, clean and do laundry for her daughter, a freshman at a university in the same city, news website Pearvideo.com reported on Jan 4.
The daughter, whose age was not revealed, lives in a rented flat close to the campus, the report said. Liu said her daughter had never washed clothes or cooked before, but she and her husband were too busy to look after her every day.
“My daughter said she wants a maid there to do household chores for her,” she was quoted as saying. “There are many such cases in her school.”
The video report, which was viewed about 6 million times, divided public opinion in mainland China.
“It’s all right as long as they do not affect others’ lives,” wrote a user of Weibo, China’s Twitter-like network. “It’s none of anyone else’s business. After all, this will increase employment.”
Another user thought the daughter should grow up, and criticised her mother for “spoiling the child infinitely”.
“It’s not necessary for the mother to do that. The daughter should be independent once she starts her university life. Can she have a maid to serve her all life?” the user said.
“The daughter is just another big baby,” wrote a third person.
In a survey by The Beijing News published online on Sunday, 32% of 7,600 respondents said adults should know the basics of housekeeping.
A total of 42% said people’s domestic affairs were their own business, while 26% said they thought the question was not important. – South China Morning Post
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