Childcare, intergenerational relations, and singleton status of parents in urban Chinese families

My study examines intergenerational collaboration in arranging childcare for two children in urban Chinese families after China ended its one-child policy. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 66 urban Chinese parents, I compare three types of families (singleton couples, nonsingleton couples, and mixed couples) to highlight how the parents’ singleton status affects their intergenerational negotiation and collaboration in childcare. My study contributes to the discussions of intergenerational relationships in Chinese families by moving beyond the grandparent–parent dyad in intergenerational childcare and highlighting diverse childcare arrangements across generations. My findings enrich the knowledge of intergenerational relations by revealing the dynamic and contested process of intergenerational collaboration in raising two children, which is informed by multiple family norms of intergenerational obligations and is shaped by constant negotiations, various coping strategies, and even family tensions between parents, grandparents, and adult siblings.