A mother feeds her child in a park in Tokyo. (Jiji)     HOW DO PARENTS SEE THEIR CHILDREN'S FUTURE? Online Survey April 12, 2002 When a baby is born, the parents usually react with joy or a sense of accomplishment. Taking the long-term view, they think about having their child learn foreign languages, sports, musical instruments, and computer skills, and looking even farther ahead, they hope he or she will pursue a career as an athlete, architect, physician, artist, or any number of other things. When they think about what kind of person they want their child to be, they say kind and considerate. But there are also a lot of things to worry about, such as Japan's future or how the children will get along with their classmates in school. Trends in Japan wanted to discover the hopes and worries young fathers and mothers have about their children, so it conducted an online survey and found some clear trends in the attitudes of the respondents. Top Career Choices: Athlete, Architect, and Physician The theme of this survey was "How do you see your children's future?" It was conducted between February 1 and 5 with a sample of 100 parents (50 fathers and 50 mothers) in their twenties or thirties who had a child born in the twenty-first century. Of the respondents, 33% had one child, 54% had two children, and 13% had three. The survey began by asking the respondents what their first thought had been after the birth of their child (multiple responses were permitted). The most common response, "I'm so happy," was reported by 76%, followed by "We did it!" (48%), "What a lot of work" (36%), and "We'll have to live more seriously and responsibly" (21%). These were the top four items for men and women of all ages, but "What a lot of work" was the second-most common response from women (48%), perhaps because they were anticipating the burdens of child rearing. Next, asked which profession they would like their child to pursue, "something in the sports field, such as athlete or instructor" took the top place at 23%. This was followed by "something in the technical or technological fields, such as architecture or engineering" (13%), "something in the medical field, such as a doctor or a nurse" (12%), and "something in the artistic and cultural fields, such as artist, musician, or writer" (9%). All of these professions have a strong independent flavor, in that a person's individual abilities and efforts play an important role. This ranking was exactly the same for men and women of all ages. Occupations like government employee, teacher, and office or company worker, which involve working for government agencies or corporations and were once thought of as the norm, were not very popular. And it is worth noting that 14% of parents selected "Other," so this was actually the second most popular choice, and almost all of these also said "I will respect my child's wishes." [See graph 1] Parents Want Children to Learn Languages and Sports Are today's children better off than their parents were when they were children? When we asked respondents to mention ways in which today's children were better off (multiple responses permitted), the top response, at 68%, was "They have a wider choice of toys, games, and other playthings." This was followed by "They have access to a richer variety of food and materials" (54%), "Parents and children are able to spend more time together" (16%), and "They have a wide variety of job choices" (11%). In contrast, 23% said "I don't think that they are especially well off," and no more than 1% responded that "They have a bright future." Others responded with comments such as, "I'm uneasy about the future because of the low birthrate" or "We live in dangerous times." The rankings of the top answers was identical for men and women of all ages. When asked whether they wanted to send their child to study overseas, an overwhelming majority, 61%, said "I will leave it up to the child," but the negative responses, "There's no particular reason to insist on it" (24%) and "It's unnecessary" (2%) added up to 26%. Just 13% of parents gave the unconditionally positive response "I definitely want my child to study overseas." Again, the rankings of these answers was the same for men and women of all ages. Parents were also asked what kind of skills they wanted their children to learn (multiple responses permitted). The top answer, at 63%, was "foreign languages," followed by "sports, such as swimming, baseball, and soccer" (58%), "Western musical instruments like the piano and the violin" (31%), and "computer skills" (27%). Skills deeply rooted in traditional Japanese culture, such as "the tea ceremony or flower arranging" (3%) and "Japanese musical instruments, such as the shamisen and koto" (0%) were not at all popular. The top-ranked skills are in line with the occupations that parents want their children to pursue, and the responses of men and women of all ages were nearly identical. [See graph 2] Worries About the Future   Your Name What did you think of this article? It was interesting. It was boring. Send this article to a friend Trends in Japan Home When parents were asked what aspect of their child's future they were most worried about (multiple responses permitted), the most common answer was "Japan's future," at 66%. The next two were "getting along with others at school" (49%), a reference to such problems as bullying; and "public safety" (42%). These were followed by "environmental problems" (39%), "education" (31%), "health"(28%), and "household finances" (12%). Here again, the results were nearly identical for men and women of all ages, a reflection that these concerns are held throughout Japanese society. Next we asked what kind of people the parents wanted their children to become (multiple responses permitted). The overwhelming choice, with 78% support, was "a person who is kind and considerate to others." The next most popular were "healthy" (48%), "a person who can face difficulties squarely" (44%), "a person who is loved by everyone" (33%), and "a person who doesn't cause trouble for others" (33%). These were followed by "an honest, unassuming person" (17%), "a person who can be active in the international community" (11%), and "a strong-minded person" (11%). The responses "an intelligent person" (10%) and "a success" (1%) were not at all popular. The same trend was seen among men and women of all ages. It seems that parents' values concerning desirable personal traits have changed drastically. Finally, we asked the respondents how long they wanted their children to live with them. The most common answer, at 33%, was "I will leave it up to the child," followed by "until he or she graduates from high school" (25%), "until he or she gets married" (20%), and "until he or she graduates from university" (17%). A mere 3% of participants were possessive parents who responded "always, even after he or she is married." It was noticeable that 26% of the women (compared with 8% of the men) hoped their child would live with them until graduation from university, suggesting that twenty-first century children may leave the nest somewhat later than previous generations. With Japan's society and economy being shaken by a variety of phenomena, including a falling birthrate, a rise in the number of elderly people, and high unemployment, the survey revealed that parents' hopes for their children are evolving fast. Copyright (c) 2002 Japan Information Network. Edited by Japan Echo Inc. based on domestic Japanese news sources. Articles presented here are offered for reference purposes and do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Japanese Government.