The wonderful merits of ‘full-time children’

If you can pay a salary to your full-time sons and daughters, you are successful as the elderly.

CHUN YOUNG-SUNThe author is head of the K-entertainment team at the Joongang Ilbo. “Full-time children” is a newly coined term in China, referring to sons and daughters who stay home and take care of domestic affairs — just like fulltime housewives. They are doing jobs for their parents, such as cooking, cleaning, driving, travel planning and dining out.

The buzzword originated in Chinese social media as the country experiences its worst-ever youth unemployment, or 20.8 percent, in May. But similar cases can be found around the world.

In the low-growth age, we are not unfamiliar with children who are poorer than their parent’s generation. It is also common in Korea, where many young people spend a long period of time in limbo while looking for quality jobs.

To become a full-time child, you first need the wings of financially stable parents. According to cases illustrated in foreign media, including Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, full-time children receive an average of 4,000 to 5,500 yuan ($551 to $758 ) per month.

It may not be a large sum of money. But they live with their parents and receive free room and board. They also do not experience the harsh working environment in China, symbolized by 966 — working six days a week form 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

These full-time children proactively work and do what they can — and are viewed in a more positive light than “kangaroos” and the “boomerang generation,” who live off their parents’ retirement saving. Some may find it odd to be paid in return for filial piety in a society with a strong family tradition. After all, parents raise their children without any return.

It is true. But reality shows that the contractual relationship is rather reasonable. We’ve seen countless cases of parents and children growing further apart as they go through economic difficulties. In fact, the elderly these days like to say that they will hold onto their money until the end if they want to be cared for by children.

Of course, this is an option available when the parents are well off and have enough to give. The ratio of the elderly population aged 65 or above — living on less than 50 percent of the median income, or the relative poverty line — was 37.6 percent in 2021. It means that four in 10 elderly Koreans spend their last years of life in poverty.

The number is near the top among OECD member countries, along with the elderly suicide rate of 46.6 per 100,000 in 2019. If you can pay a salary to your full-time sons and daughters, you are sucessful as the elderly.