Animosity from first-borns toward their yet-to-be-born siblings has become a social dilemma in China. (Photo : www.english.cri.cn)
First-borns emit a surprisingly hostile aura toward their unborn siblings in a shocking twist in the Chinese family unit.
Best-selling pop culture author Liu Yan noted in his column in CRIEnglish the obvious animosity of the then-only child in China after about 1 million couples in the country seized the one-child policy amendment in 2014 in order to have a second child.
He pointed out a case in Henan where an 8-year-old girl became very upset after her parents told her that she would be having a little brother or sister soon.
According to reports, the little girl became angry at her parents at their decision to have another child and expressed her strong opposition on the matter.
Soon, however, she agreed to have a sibling but has stated her terms, which included that her parents should "guarantee" that they would love her most and provide for her needs first before anything else. And the catch is, she wants all of this in writing.
The parents, who may just be humoring the child, agreed to her terms and even signed a document stating just that.
To ensure her fate, the 8-year-old girl wrote, "OK, I approve!" then she signed her name underneath it but later added another sentence: "Don't you dare erase this!"
In a similar case, another girl, a 13-year-old, in Wuhan tried and succeeded to prevent her mother from having a second child.
The sad part is, the mother is already 13 weeks pregnant, but she later aborted the baby because her first-born had threatened to kill herself if she continued the pregnancy.
According to Liu, this attitude may be due to "insecurities this generation of 'little emperors' feel when they suddenly face the possibility of a rival for their parents' affection" which might be due to their being an only child for quite a while.
"Shedding a few tears? Sure. Throwing a temper tantrum? Not great, but still acceptable. Threatening your parents to guarantee in writing, or else? I'm sorry, but that's going too far. Where does a child get off disrespecting adults like that?!" he exclaimed, adding in the article how "outrageous" this generation has become.
