| Recently, Shandong Province issued a drafted regulation stipulating that adults cannot ask their parents for money under the pretext of unemployment or any other reasons. If adults have the capability of living independently and still ask for financial support from their parents, the parents can cite the regulation and say no to their children.
Chinasaw a rise in the number of boomerang kids over the past decade. According to a survey conducted by the China Research Center on Aging, the phenomenon of elderly parents financially helping their offspring exists in more than 65 percent of Chinese families, and 30 percent of grown children totally rely on parentsí financial support.
The public are divided on whether such regulations should be drafted. Supporters believe that this draft helps curb the severe problem of adults relying on their elderly parents, and enshrines a parentís right to turn down a request for financial support from any offspring who has reached adulthood. It can also encourage boomerang kids to look for jobs. However, others argue that itís unnecessary to draft this regulation, as this phenomenon falls into the morality category and morality cannot be regulated by administrative regulations or laws. In addition, itís difficult to intervene in family affairs.
Pro
Wan Feng
Media commentator
This regulation is good and necessary as many parents do not know what they can do to better help their offspring.
The employment situation is not an excuse for living off one's parents. Parents' tolerance encourages the boomerang phenomenon. As parents, we constantly wrestle with what it means to give our kids the best. There should be a balancing act between what will make them happy today and what will help them become responsible and independent adults later in life. If you continue to treat them as a child, you may inhibit them from really maturing. This regulation can be regarded as a guide telling some parents how to help their offspring.
Con
Manling
ChinaRadio International
I don't think the draft is necessary or going to work, because even without such regulation, elderly parents still have the right to refuse such requests. I don't have too much confidence in the regulation against the boomerang kids. Offspring are obligated to pay visits to their parents, and surely parents are entitled to agree or deny their child asking for money. These belong to a culture or a mentality. We have to change our mindset. After children grow up, leave them alone. After you leave home, leave your parents alone. But it will take a long time to change. By issuing some regulations, I don't think it will make a difference.
Pro
Zhao Qi
Researcher
Some parents, who have contributed to the situation that their children rely on them after college graduation, need to study the regulation carefully. In big Chinese cities, for example, many boomerang kids are the only child in a family. In these families, parents tend to pamper their kids more than necessary, refusing, for instance, to let their "little emperors" do any hard work. Therefore, their kids are more often incapable to survive on their own.
These "little emperors" are so used to a sort of lavish lifestyle and over-consumption that when they graduate from college, they find that their meager salary can't maintain the lifestyle they've been used to. So they will naturally turn to their parents for aid. I think what the government is trying to do is to curb the severe problem of adults relying on the elderly parents, and promote our traditional virtue of taking good care of the elderly.
Con
Zhang Li
Netizen
Such a regulation is useless.
It's simply hard for young people to gain a foothold financially when they're fresh into the working environment. Parents have to help their children get on their feet. No parents want to see their children live a bad life. I feel it is my obligation to give my daughter a helping hand whenever she needs. I'm sure that my daughter will gradually become more independent and be on her own.
Con
Yu Jing
Lawyer
I think it's not necessary to set such restrictions. The traditional family virtue should not be regulated or written in the law. You cannot regulate morality.
To me, it's similar to another regulation which requires kids to go back to see their parents on a regular basis. How do you intervene in family affairs and how do you implement the regulation? I think the ideal solution to this issue lies in joint efforts of many parties: a fair chance for personal development, affordable living costs, an enhanced awareness of caring for the elderly and better laws.
Con
Li Xiao
Netizen
Frankly speaking, it is not the relevant young people's willingness to live off their parents for a long time. It's not easy for young people to start out these days. The day I graduated from college, I made up my mind not to ask for money from my parents any more. But things went contrary to my wishes. As a fresh graduate, I can't cover the costs of apartment rent, transportation and clothing with my meager income.
It's not only the jobless who are relying on their parents. Many working graduates still find they need to be supplemented. To survive in a city likeBeijing, I have no choice but to beg my parents for help. I want to use my own money to buy my own apartment and a car, but that's impossible given the skyrocketing housing prices nowadays. But one thing for sure, I will pay my parents back, though they never ask, when my financial ability allows.
Pro
Ding Jianting
Media commentator
I think we need such a regulation at the current stage. The regulation will enshrine a parent's right to turn down a request for financial support from any offspring who has reached adulthood but continues to demand cash. Nowadays, some parents are still supporting their kids' boomeranging lifestyles and they are willing to make sacrifices. But such continued support could have negative consequences, as these young people won't see the necessity to learn how to earn and manage money; and they may end up running into trouble. This regulation reminds those parents of the negative consequences | 
