Over 70% of respondents have pushy parents: survey

A survey which pooled 2,001 Chinese showed that 75.4 percent of respondents said their parents are too pushy.

About 55.2 percent of respondents said pushy parents refuse to listen to children's opinions and don't tolerate objections, 53.3 percent said their parents plan everything for them, and 46 percent said their parents often criticize them, according to the China Youth Daily survey.

Children make mistakes, but the choice to discipline them depends on the mistake, said Zhang Baoyi, head of the Institute of Sociology under the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences.

"If it is a moral issue, parents should be strict with their children and help them cultivate morality. If children make a mistake because they are incapable of doing better, parents should be tolerant and guide them to do better, not scold them," Zhang said.

The survey showed 58.8 percent of those interviewed suggest that pushy parents learn to respect their children's opinions, 54.6 percent said their parents should limit their rebuke and look past their children's mistakes sometimes, while 49.6 percent advised parents to believe in their children and offer proper encouragement.

"Children of arbitrary and pushy parents grow up deprived of freedom, and children of parents who do not embrace equality will not have the respect for equality," said a relationship expert Ling Ling, which is a pseudo name.

"As these children grow up, they dare not refuse others. Likable as they might seem, or with good grades, they might show a lack of independence in their career," Ling Ling said.