Indian mums worry more and are less likely to think about themselves than their kids, finds a new global report
A new parenting study, The Global Motherhood Survey was conducted across six countries – Australia, China, Colombia, India, UK and the US – with around 600 respondents in each who were either pregnant or had a child under the age of two.
The survey found Indian and Chinese mums are more likely to compare their child’s development to others and to spend more on products for them.
They are also 95 per cent more likely than the average mum in other countries to encourage their children to reach milestones ahead of schedule.
Indian mothers aren’t just comparing, “They are also the most anxious and obsessed in this regard compared to the other countries,” the study noted.
“China gave the world the concept of tiger moms, while India is considered an achiever society – where mothers want their children to be super achievers. There has been a constant comparison between the Indian and Chinese economies, we thought it would be interesting to see how the mom-economies compared,” said Devika Sharma, India lead for Frank about Women, the think tank which ran the survey.
Australian mums are reportedly “more chilled out” and the least likely to second-guess a parenting decision. They are considered more ‘go with the flow’ parents.
Globally, mum struggle with the concept of looking after themselves. Mums in Australia and India are starkly divided on this point: Indian mothers are 36 times more likely than Aussie mums to agree that “the child always comes first”.
There are other parenting divides when it comes to taking advice from others. Of the mothers surveyed in India, nine out of 10 live with extended family and 74 per cent with their in-laws. While 75 per cent of the global mums surveyed said it’s best to do what works for their babies regardless of what others say or do, the other 25 per cent, mainly mums from India and China, feel it’s important to incorporate advice from elders into their parenting approaches. However, Indian mums feel fathers aren’t pulling their weight, with eight in ten saying they want more help from their husbands.
Indian and Chinese mums are also significantly more likely to be spending more on educational products for their children than Australian mums. Six in ten mothers around the world felt it was worth paying more for such items, but that rose to 80% in China and 77% in India.
