Adult Playgrounds/Role of Grandparents

About a block from our house is an adult playground. We are in a housing development owned by Peking University. It is a group of about 10 large apartment buildings built for the 2008 Chinese Olympic games. I think they are very nice apartments….but after years of living in third world countries maybe I am not the best person to assess this. I can say, that it is one of the nicest apartments we have lived in.

If I walk or get on my bike and go about a block to the exit gate, I find an adult playground. I didn’t look closely at it for quite a few months. It looks like a kids’ playground and that is what I always thought it was, but then I examined it more closely. There are 8-10 pieces of equipment. Everyone is for adults. They are quite attractive and innovative, involving arms, legs, balance, speed, etc. What a wonderful idea! Chinese are very health conscious and this is another example of their way to keep active. I see many people there. Mainly it is older people and they often have small children with them, which is why I didn’t question what age group it was for earlier. 

It is an established custom in China for the grandparents to care for the grandchildren as the adult children work. In fact the retirement age for women is the mid- to late 50’s, partly to allow them to care for grandbabies. I daily see grandmas and grandpas out walking babies and toddlers, talking to them, feeding them, etc. When I question my students about this custom they strongly support it. I say that I wanted to raise my own children, not send them away from me. The students understand that sentiment but cannot see any way to make it happen with their demanding jobs and enjoy the ease to allow their parents to do childcare. They comfort themselves by saying, “But we will get to care for OUR grandchildren!” They say that the grandparents would be very upset if they were not allowed to care for the babies. Then as the children get older, and the grandparents decline, the family switches focus to care for aging parents. ALL children are expected to support their parents. It is one of the main reasons the students state for desiring a good education leading to a good job: to repay parents for my care as a child and provide support for them in their old age. The One Child System has strained this custom, but they are working it out.  The longer I am here, the more I see this as a fundamental difference in our cultures.