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Phase: Inspiration Missions: Surprise Us

Legally required to visit aged parents

This may be controversial, but the Chinese government is requiring children to visit their aged parents at least twice a year.

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Written by DeletedUser

geobeat-news
China's elderly population is growing (estimated to be 221million by 2015) and they are looking to the offspring to offset the spiritual and financial needs of the aged. 


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DeletedUser

A law will not solve the main problem of the ageing population, they need special care if they had a very hard working life.

The State can not put on the population the tasks that belong to them. China is not a good example of administration and social care everyone know about it. There are not respect for the human being and workers. Then the population migrate to big centres is also to sustain the grow of the Country. People should have enough jobs in their own cities avoiding emigration.

I think before they impose laws to their population to obey to care about their parents they need to provide a health security, social benefits and decent health care.

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DeletedUser

​I​ by no means am suggesting that imposing laws is the solution to this issue. However, there are parts of this article I walked away with that I think could inform how we frame and create solutions.

​There have been several great ideas posted around how we create a sense of community for the elderly. But I think we need to continue thinking about we make it "easier" for the primary caregivers to take care of the elderly - which in many cases are the children/grandchildren.

​This legislation "forces" the interaction, but how can we remove the obstacles (distance, limited vacation time, cost) so that there is more of a personal contact. I think of my own parents trying to care for my grandparents being thousands of miles away. My parents live in constant fear of receiving a dreaded early morning phone call that something has happened and they won't be able to be there when their parents need it the most.

I shared this idea to have the group also think about making it easier for family members to provide care for their elderly relatives.

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Photo of Tatiana Sidorenkova

I do agree that it's extremely important to "support" children to take care of their parents but we shouldn't forget about enforcing an emotional connection between parents and children.

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DeletedUser

Tatiana, there are so much to do about enforcing an emotional connection between parents and children and it is not when the parents are older but when parents concept the children.

Many parents don't give to their children time and contact in they growing process... If they do so their children will be present when they are older.

I live in the Country mothers can stop 1 year to take care about their children, women are active and equal with men. They don't need the State "force" by law because the generation connections are present and stronger by a simple act : EDUCATION.

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Photo of Meena Kadri

Interesting discussion guys. You might also want to check out this discussion raised by a newcomer to OpenIDEO, a student from China: http://www.openideo.com/open/mayo-clinic/inspiration/why-china-is-ordering-adult-children-to-visit-their-parents/ It's certainly a complex issue!

Nisha – your thoughts around using this to inspire solutions is a great one. Inspirations like http://www.openideo.com/open/mayo-clinic/inspiration/tyze-an-online-tool-that-helps-us-care-for-others/ are relevant to this discussion – and we hope that folks will come up with even more fresh thinking in our Ideas phase which is now open: http://bit.ly/agewell-ideas Hope to see you all there!

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