The concept of science-based parenting places special emphasis on the role of fathers in a child’s development. Photo: TUCHONG

Parenting styles among urban families are undergoing a transformation in China, shifting from free-range approaches to science-based methods. Science-based parenting aims at promoting the comprehensive development of children, through scientific planning, resource coordination, intensive investments, meticulous cultivation, emotional companionship, and other methods of intensive intervention. With a goal of raising “perfect” offspring, this approach is expected to have a profound impact on children. Over the past two decades, science-based parenting has gained increasing popularity within urban families. This article traces the evolution of parenting styles among urban families and examines its impact on the role of fathers.

Parenting transformation in urban families

At the end of the 20th century, Western concepts of science-based parenting began to spread to China through the internet, influencing the parenting practices of Chinese families. Compared to the previous generation, parents born in the 1980s and 1990s have higher levels of education, equipping them with the cultural capital and capability to adopt science-based parenting. These parents also have higher expectations for their children.

Moreover, the importance of education is accentuated under the social structure where social stratification is intensifying and upward social mobility is becoming increasingly difficult. Families, in turn, are placing greater emphasis on education. Parents have to be prepared to select a good school for their children at an even earlier stage, and students face exams from early childhood. This environment gives rise to “tiger parenting” in urban families.

The marketization of education has led to the co-embedding of school education and off-campus training institutions, intensifying educational competition. Overall, social stratification, intensified educational competition, and high expectations of parents have exacerbated parental anxiety, which is often projected onto children. Parents are highly involved and intervene in their children’s development in accordance with science-based parenting norms.

The development of digital technology has also facilitated science-based parenting. On digital media platforms, young parents engage in various online parenting communities. They follow parenting bloggers, watch short videos, buy courses, interact with live broadcasts, and share parenting experiences through online communities, including mutual aid communities.

As a result, parenting experts, public health departments, market institutions, and young parents jointly establish mainstream norms for family education through community interactions. In addition, education methods in urban families are scientific, professional, refined, marketized, and intensive. Standards and systems have been formulated on digital platforms for science-based parenting, specifying optimal parenting methods for children at different ages and stages, with comprehensive indices.

However, the gap between these norms and actual family education practices can cause anxiety among parents, which is captured and strengthened by the market. Market institutions advocate promotion of children’s development through the use of professional products, services, and courses, making parenting a scientific and professional process. As a result, consumer culture has increasingly penetrated into parenting practices, to the point that today’s parenting requires even more investment of time, money, and energy despite the decreased number of children per family.

Reconstruction of fatherhood ethics

Under the influence of science-based parenting, a new parenting culture has emerged, which sets cultural boundaries for how adults can be “good parents” and reshapes parental identity accordingly. Fathers, who play an important role in families, are also affected by the new parenting culture. Understanding fatherhood necessitates examining it in the context of the parenting transformation.

In the 1990s, China embarked on its transformation to a market-oriented economy. The state and the labor market gradually withdrew from the reproductive labor fields such as childbirth and child-rearing, and the reproductive function was shifted to private families.

Science-based parenting means that under the pressure of fierce competition, the role and responsibilities of the family in the growth and development of children are increasingly accentuated. It requires the family as a unit to invest and integrate resources for children. The scientific and professional nature of science-based parenting has high requirements for parents, and is generally undertaken by parents from younger generations. The refinement and intensification of science-based parenting require a high level of investment from parents in terms of their time and energy.

At present, urban families are typically dual-earner households. Due to traditional gender roles, science-based parenting is mainly undertaken by mothers, intensifying motherhood. Mothers, however, cannot meet the demands of science-based parenting alone. In addition, as women’s education levels rise, so does their awareness of gender equality. Mothers hope to balance family and career, and the involvement of fathers in childcare has become a widespread expectation. As a result, a more equitable division of labor between husbands and wives has become common, making collaborative parenting increasingly prevalent in urban families.

The concept of science-based parenting places special emphasis on the role of fathers in a child’s development, advocating intimate parenting and the reconstruction of fatherhood ethics. As a result, fathers are taking on new roles. In addition to bearing the traditional responsibility of providing for the family, fathers are increasingly taking on responsibilities such as child care, companionship, family education, and daily-life discipline. This is not only a compromise, but also an effort by men to actively construct the role of a “good father” under science-based parenting norms.

Breaking the stereotype of “a stern father and a compassionate mother,” modern fathers now display their softer side in daily life. They express their care, consideration, and love toward their children, diverging from the traditional image of the authoritative, silent, and emotionally distant father.

First, the emotions of children are now highly valued. The emotional well-being of children has taken on greater importance. Although children do not contribute economically to the family, they have become “priceless” in an emotional sense, which deepens parental affection.

Second, companionship has emerged as a new family ethic. Parents born in the 1980s and 1990s, often with few or no siblings, tend to raise their children in nuclear rather than extended family settings. The lack of daily interaction with peers makes parental companionship increasingly vital for a child’s development. This companionship is not only crucial for fostering secure parent-child relationships but has also become a societal norm for nurturing close family bonds.

Third, emotional expressions have become commercialized. Under the influence of consumerism, fathers now often express their love for their children through gift-giving, which is considered an important method of strengthening parent-child relationships.

Father’s multiple roles

In practice, fathers now take on multiple roles, including childcare assistant, education collaborator, playmate, and motherhood “balancer.” Overall, men are increasingly involved in their children’s everyday lives and education, playing an increasingly important role in childrearing.

Collaborative parenting has gone mainstream among urban families. In this arrangement, mothers typically assume the primary role in childcare, creating overall education plans, gathering and integrating information, and accompanying children through intensive learning activities. Fathers generally provide essential support by assisting with daily care, participating in educational activities, parent-child companionship, and behavior discipline.

Given the intense competition in education, the intensive family education model is quite common. Teenagers’ extracurricular time is highly commercialized and organized, requiring coordinated efforts from families. Couples often divide the responsibilities of tutoring and supervising schoolwork according to their individual strengths in specific subjects. Fathers generally bear the main responsibility for transporting children to and from extracurricular activities, tutoring sessions, and physical education classes.

This generation of children in particular needs their parents’ company due to the lack of peer companionship in daily life. Compared to other childcare tasks, fathers tend to prefer outdoor activities and physical play, often serving as their children’s playmate and bosom buddy.

Science-based parenting has redefined the image of the “perfect mother,” often resulting in pressure and anxiety for women, potentially leading to maternal overload. Consequently, when faced with frustrations in childrearing, mothers may experience mood swings and are more susceptible to conflicts with their children. Fathers can alleviate these pressures by taking on roles such as childcare assistant, education collaborator, and playmate. The father can also provide emotional counseling when the mother feels anxious, and act as mediators during mother-child conflict to prevent escalation. In this way, fathers help to balance the demands of motherhood.

At present, urban families generally adopt science-based parenting to align with modern family dynamics. As a result, the rights and obligations of fathers within the family are evolving, leading to a reallocation of parenting responsibilities. Although collaborative parenting, carried out in urban families in accordance with science-based parenting, is beneficial to both parent-child and husband-wife relationships, science-based parenting can be highly demanding. Many parents find a discrepancy or even a conflict between the ideals of science-based parenting and the realities of everyday practice. This makes parenting increasingly challenging, contributing to greater anxiety, pressure, and uncertainty among contemporary parents.

Wang Yongtao is an associate research fellow at the China Youth & Children Research Center.