Children have fun with their parents at a weekend nature education event in Beijing's Olympic Forest Park

Before her son was born, Zhang Li had imagined many fond ways of taking care of him. But all her plans had to be discarded as he was born premature and had to stay in hospital for a long time.  

How to take care of a premature baby? What’s the best environment for him? How to be a good mom? All those questions made her anxious and fretful.  

"Many moms like me need help. We need guidance from experts, we need to share childcare information and tactics with other parents, and we also need companionship and emotional support," Zhang said. "New parents are often concerned about raising their babies and want information. They look for information specific to their family situation, including effective parenting techniques specific to their children’s needs." 

Traditionally, new parents used to get the information they needed by talking with friends and family. But now, more parents born in the 1980s and 1990s prefer books, parenting classes, media, and the Internet. 

"The demand for child-rearing knowledge, education resources and services is growing rapidly, as more young parents are keen to learn parenting techniques and update their knowledge," Zhang said. 

An online parenting community  

To help parents like her, Zhang set up her own company, Neo Education Technology Service, in March 2014. Last year, she launched an app, Yuanzi Parenting. 

"The value of knowledge sharing and social networking far exceeds selling products to parents," she said, explaining the decision. Besides, while bringing up her son, she found parenting resources and emotional support can empower parents, increasing their confidence in their parenting ability and their knowledge of child development. 

Neo Education offers parenting classes through social media site WeChat. The classes cover a wide variety of topics - from children’s mental health and Chinese massages to child safety in cars and cake-making skills. Parents can also learn about art education resources and tips for photographing their kids.  

The classes often invite experts. Among them are those from the Ministry of Public Security, who talk about how to ensure children don’t get lost and what to do if they do. It’s a popular topic with parents. 

Some classes are free, while some charge small fees, ranging from 6 yuan ($0.9) to 40 yuan ($6.2).  

"As long as there is Internet connection, parents can raise questions and interact with teachers and other parents in WeChat groups from any place," said Cong Xiaoyu, the company’s channel promotion manager. 

Zhang believes knowledge and information sharing among parents is important. On the app, parents can exchange their parenting experiences and ideas with peers. They can upload parenting tips as plain text, with pictures, or audio clips. There are different categories of interactions, from reading out stories to English lessons, health, psychology, and nature and art education. 

Wang Wenwen, a 31-year-old mother, joined Neo Education one year ago. Now she works as the app content editor. Wang said working in the company has helped her learn and grow.  

Wang echoed it was good to exchange parenting tips and experiences with other parents online. "I got a list of English picture books a father had recommended on the app. I would read out from them to my son in the morning and evening," she said. "Now he asks me to read to him every day." 

Neo Education also organizes offline activities for kids and parents in partnership with other organizations. For instance, it works with Foot Nature Education, a company which provides nature education to children aged between 5 and 12 and their parents, to bring kids closer to nature through activities such as learning about flowers and bird watching. 

"More and more children today have less and less contact with the natural world. And this is having a huge impact on their health and development," Zhang said. "Our children need to get outdoors and engage with nature." 

"Through activities such as observation, games and painting, my son learns from nature. I think he will respect and care about nature and the environment," said Li Xia, a 35-year-old, who took her 5-year-old son to a weekend nature education event.   

Early education matters  

Zhang, who has a psychology background, believes the early years are a time of tremendous growth and opportunity. Early experiences have lasting effects on a child’s personality and future development. Therefore, this online community is mainly targeted at children aged between 1 and 6 years and their parents. The age group will be expanded to 12 in the future. 

"As an old Chinese saying goes, when a child is 3, you can see what kind of adult he will grow into. When he is 7, you can see how he would be in his old age," she said. "During a child’s early years, the state of parent-child relationship determines how the kid will get along with other people in the future." 

She gives an example of early behavioral training. "When your kid’s toy is taken away by another, he is helpless and upset. It’s important for parents to guide him to release his emotions." 

"The wisdom behind bringing up a child is simple, but parents need to learn parenting methods and understand children’s behavior in different development stages," said Mou Juan, an expert on child developmental psychology, who teaches online at Neo Education.  

Zhang has a vision for her company. "We hope to bring more educational resources to families outside the formal education system," she said. "Through classes and parenting advice, we want to help parents create a natural and harmonious environment for kids’ growth, take care of children’s mental health, and nurture a healthy family life."

Her vision and business plan have attracted many investors. After receiving 10 million yuan ($1.54 million) in investment from Zheshang Venture Capital in 2014, Neo Education subsequently got several rounds of financing from Shanghai Zhonglu Group, an investment company, Zhongsou Group, one of the largest search engine technology providers in China, and Infore Investments. 

The company at present earns its revenue mainly through partnerships and cooperation with other companies. Zhang hopes it will become profitable by the end of this year. 

China’s new policy of allowing couples to have a second child is expected to boost the mother and baby care goods and services market. It’s estimated that families in third- and fourth-tier cities will be the major beneficiaries of this policy. 

"More moms may resign from their jobs to take care of two kids. But they can also have their own career," Zhang said. "We hope to provide low-cost startup opportunities for them to start their own career on our platform." 

The plan is to provide such mothers with manuals, courseware and other educational resources so that they can run English, art or nature classes, benefiting more children in their neighborhood.