Hong Kong’s fertility rate is one of the lowest in the world. The Chinese mainland’s fertility rate dropped to a record low of 1.09 in 2022. Hong Kong’s fertility rate last year was estimated at 0.8. Both rates are far short of 2.1, which is required to maintain the prevailing population in equilibrium. 

Many people blame the low fertility rate on the cost of raising children and the preference for a child-free lifestyle. These are no doubt real problems. But there is another important reason: Child-rearing is a daunting task, and there is a lot of fear about the challenges parents have to face as kids grow up.

Recently Hong Kong police recorded a 29 percent rise in child abuse cases in the first half of this year compared with a year ago. Interestingly, child abuse is negatively correlated with happiness. 

We did an online survey of Hong Kong people’s happiness in 2011 that attracted 8,523 responses, which was a sufficiently large number to produce a district-based happiness index. After comparing with the Child Protection Registry report of the Social Welfare Department in 2011, we found that the happiest districts, Wan Chai and Tai Po, were the districts with the lowest child abuse cases. The least-happy districts — Kwun Tong, Yuen Long, Tuen Mun and the Outlying Islands — had the highest child abuse rates. It’s not a mystery that unhappy parents are more prone to abusing their children. The tragic thing is that not all the abusers lack love for their children. Without proper parenting and self-management skills, even loving parents may unknowingly abuse their children.

This is why LIFE (love, insight, fortitude, and engagement) education and parenting education are very important to enhance mental health and well-being. There is some discussion about whether young people need to be trained and tested for their parenting skills, and get a “license” to have children. 

Young people should learn the skills to be parents. In doing so, they would also learn about the challenges facing their own parents, and hopefully this will pave the way for more effective communication with their own parents

Readers of this column would know that I have long been an advocate for parenting education. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government knows the importance of parenting education. For example, in the 2022-23 school year, the Education Bureau (EDB) has provided a grant of HK$200,000 ($25,500) for each publicly funded primary school and Direct Subsidy Scheme primary school to help schools embark on structured school-based parent education programs or activities. The EDB website states: “The EDB has all along been supporting home-school cooperation, forging home-school partnership and promoting parent education. The Education Commission set up the Task Force on Home-School Cooperation and Parent Education (Task Force) and released its report in April 2019, giving recommendations on further promoting home-school cooperation and parent education.”

However, I would argue that parenting education should start early, and should be part of the LIFE education curriculum which should be compulsory for both students and teachers-in-training. LIFE education is not about “thinking positively”, which is easier said than done, and the advice is of little use. 

LIFE education is very much about how to live positively, which involves learning many different techniques. Parenting education should start early in schools because all children are potential parents. Young people should learn the skills to be parents. In doing so, they would also learn about the challenges facing their own parents, and hopefully this will pave the way for more effective communication with their own parents. They need to learn to respect all human beings as equals and deserve to have the right to be respected and the opportunity to realize the potential that life has in store for them. As young adults, teenagers need to learn to live as responsible adults. Equipped with these skills, they will be much more ready to become parents themselves. This is an important and effective way to lift the fertility rate.

Unfortunately, trying to promote parenting education to parents is often too late. For one thing, many couples may have decided not to have children because they find child-rearing too daunting. For another thing, those who have children fall into two categories: those who care and those who don’t. Those who don’t care have no interest in parenting education. Among those who care, many may not be able to find the time to participate. On the other hand, if parenting education and LIFE education is taught at school, all prospective parents will learn the requisite skills to be good parents. If well-delivered, parenting and LIFE education may lure some to take up the challenge to become parents.

In my view, a neat description of the contents of LIFE education is promoting love, i.e., to cultivate a genuine concern for the well-being of others, including both mental and physical well-being; insight, which consists of all the self-management skills that one needs to learn in order to face the challenges of life; fortitude, which is a strong will to live well regardless of any challenges; and engagement, which is living with a strong sense of purpose. Parenting education involves learning the multifaceted needs of children and learning to be a loving person (love), learning the skills to be good parents so they can offer the emotional support that they need when they encounter setbacks (insight); steadfastly holding onto this commitment to love regardless of the challenges (fortitude); and living out love and insight in one’s daily lives (engagement).

The author is director of the Pan Sutong Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Policy Research Institute, Lingnan University.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.