Baby-pooling “拼养”小孩

Many post-80s couples are complaining that going to the movies, shopping or attending parties have become impossible since their kids were born. That’s the way most parents are living their lives, no weekends of their own, no time to visit friends, not even a chance at promotion in their jobs. Asking help from their parents might be a way out, but the problem is that some aging parents are not strong enough to take care of the kids, and the kids may also become too spoiled by grandparents.

很多80后的夫妻都抱怨说自从孩子出生以后他们就不能再去看电影、逛街或者参加聚会了。这就是大多数父母的生活，没有属于自己的周末，没有时间见朋友，甚至连工作上升迁的机会都会失去。找父母帮忙看孩子可能是个解决问题的办法，但问题是，有些父母年纪太大，身体不好，照顾不了小孩子，而且祖父母带孙子可能会把孩子宠坏。

Then here comes a solution: Families with 3-plus kids can form a small group, and parents of each family, with enough sense of responsibility and patience, can take turns looking after all the kids in this group on weekends. Thus, other parents can have some quiet time for themselves and feel free to do something they’ve been planning for a long time; at the same time, the kids can make new friends and won’t be hanging around their parents all day long. This is called baby-pooling.

于是，就有了这样一个解决方案：有三岁以上孩子的家庭可以组成一个小组，每个家庭的父母在有足够责任感和耐心的前提下，可以轮流在周末照看本小组中的所有孩子。这样，其他家庭的父母就能够享受一段静谧的时光，可以做一些他们计划了很久但没有机会做的事情；同时，孩子们也能交到自己的朋友，不会总缠着父母不放了。这个方案就叫做“拼养”。