Mom strives to achieve work-life balance

Resettlement, education

Last year, Wang and her husband moved out of Xicheng district, where the education in kindergartens and primary schools is widely regarded as excellent, and settled in Fengtai district, where they could afford a large apartment.

Compared with a crowded school in Xicheng, Wang is planning to enroll her sons at Fengtai No 5 Primary school, just across the street from her new apartment.

"I remember the kindergarten in Xicheng that my oldest son attended. For the noon nap, kids from two classes had to crowd into one classroom, as it was also used as a nap room," Wang said. "Half the kindergarten was under construction, because the school was getting ready to enroll more children."

If all three sons attend the kindergarten, the fees will work out at about 700 yuan per child for tuition, 800 for food and about 1,000 for interest classes per child. That's about 7,500 yuan each in total. With the additional cost of a nanny to help Wang take care of the youngest boy, the cost will be at least 15,000 yuan a month.

Speaking at a news conference in January, Yang Jinrui, deputy director of the National Health Commission's population surveillance and family development department, said, "The high costs of childbearing and education have made many young people anxious."

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, about 10.62 million babies were born in China last year－falling from 12 million in 2020－the lowest number in recent years, while the national birthrate fell to the lowest level since 1978.

China introduced the third-child policy in May last year. Now, all couples can have up to three children, and many measures have been rolled out to encourage births.

Wang has already shown her ability to multitask, as she gained a master's while being the primary caregiver to her two young sons and giving birth to a third.

She found herself pregnant with Youxia when she started her master's in 2019. Before that, she had been a full-time mother for more than a year.

When she graduated from Renmin University of China in 2015, Wang passed the exam for civil servants in Beijing and became a police officer. She married the same year, but chose to quit the steady job after giving birth to her first boy, Muxia, in 2017.

"When I had my first baby, I felt that taking care of him was the most important thing in the world. I wanted to stay home with him for the rest of my life," Wang said, adding that her views have changed since then.