Read More《退休老人再就业，我成了大家的“共享奶奶”》
Positive Comments: A Two-way Healing Solution to Parenting Pain Points and Filling the Value Gap of the Elderly
The emergence of the “Shared Grandmas” model is essentially a “supply-demand match” that precisely addresses social pain points. In the simplest form of community mutual assistance, it responds to the deep-seated needs of contemporary Chinese families under the dual pressures of parenting and elderly care. Its positive significance is manifested in three dimensions:
Firstly, it alleviates the “time poverty” of dual-income families and provides low-cost, high-trust parenting support for working parents. In the news, Wang Lin, a single mother, was so anxious about the conflict between work and picking up her child that she “didn’t dare to take leave”; Luo Na was forced to coordinate with her mother-in-law to help avoid the overtime charge of the after-school care service, which led to tension in family relations. These cases reveal the common dilemma of contemporary working parents – the misalignment between the company’s attendance system and the school’s dismissal time has made the “3:30 problem” the last straw that breaks the back of working mothers. The appearance of “Shared Grandmas” fills the “supervision gap” through the acquaintance network within the community (such as the community WeChat group) or semi-acquaintance relationships (such as grandmas who pick up their own grandchildren taking other children along the way), with a low monthly fee of 300 – 1,500 yuan (far lower than the 3,000 yuan of a daycare center). This allows parents to focus more on their work and reduces the risk of being forced to leave their jobs or take a pay cut due to parenting issues.
Secondly, it provides a channel for “resocialization” for retired elderly people and reactivates their social value and emotional needs. In the news, Aunt Tang, an empty-nester, was trapped in loneliness with the TV on from morning till night because she had no grandchildren to take care of; Cong Min’s vision declined and her daily routine was disrupted due to watching short dramas to fill the void in her life after retirement. These cases reflect the common dilemma of the retired group in an aging society: after leaving their professional roles, their time, experience, and emotional needs have lost an “outlet”, and they have fallen into a psychological crisis of “value loss”. The “Shared Grandmas” model enables retired elderly people to regain the identity of being “needed” – Cong Min rediscovered her baking hobby through taking care of children, and the photos of parent-child interactions in her WeChat Moments have become her new life support; if Aunt Tang, a retired teacher, participates, she may be able to transform her 40 years of teaching experience into companionship and guidance for children. This feeling of being “needed” not only alleviates the elderly’s loneliness but also allows them to maintain cognitive vitality and social connections in intergenerational interactions, which is in line with the core concept of active aging.
Finally, it promotes the revival of community mutual assistance culture and provides an innovative “bottom-up” sample for grass-roots governance. From the community volunteer service in Ningbo in 2019 to the current paid mutual assistance spontaneously formed on social platforms, the development of “Shared Grandmas” has always been rooted in the community acquaintance network. This model does not require a complex technological platform or capital intervention and can operate through daily communication channels such as the community WeChat group and forums. In essence, it is a modern upgrade of the traditional “neighborhood mutual assistance”. It not only reduces the cost of public services (for example, the government does not need to build new daycare institutions) but also enhances community cohesion through emotional bonds – when Cong Min has a good chat with the family she takes care of, and when Wang Lin’s daughter builds trust with the grandma of her classmate, strangers in the community gradually transform into a “mutual assistance community”. This kind of emotional connection is more resilient than pure market transactions.
Negative Comments: Hidden Concerns in the Model due to Fragile Trust and Uncontrollable Risks
Although the “Shared Grandmas” model has shown strong vitality in practice, the fragility of its underlying logic cannot be ignored. As a non-standardized service that relies on “acquaintance trust” or “temporary contracts”, it has multiple risks in terms of safety, responsibility, and sustainability, which may become the key bottlenecks restricting its development.
Firstly, potential safety hazards for children are the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over the model. In the news, Luo Na chose an expensive daycare center because she “didn’t trust strangers”; the case of a “neighbor grandpa assaulting a young girl” mentioned by Director Cheng, and the common scenario of “grandmas scaring children with ‘I’ll throw you away if you don’t behave'” all reveal the most core risk in the “Shared Grandmas” service – it is difficult to standardize the qualification and character review of caregivers. Different from professional daycare institutions, the “Shared Grandmas” service is mostly an individual and spontaneous behavior. There is neither unified health examination (such as checking for the risk of sudden diseases like high blood pressure), psychological assessment (such as emotional stability), nor training in child care skills (such as first-aid knowledge and child psychological guidance). Accidents such as “a grandpa having a sudden high blood pressure attack while picking up a child” and “a child hitting the corner of a table” mentioned in the news, although they are individual cases, expose the potential threats of “uncontrollable factors” during the service process. More seriously, if there are a very small number of criminals taking advantage of parents’ trust to commit assaults (such as the case of a retired teacher in the news), it is often difficult for parents to hold them accountable due to the lack of surveillance records or legal agreements, resulting in irreversible harm.
Secondly, the ambiguity in responsibility definition may lead to disputes and damage the purity of the mutual assistance relationship. In the news, when a part-time nanny was hit by an electric bike while picking up a child, there was a dispute over medical expenses due to the lack of a contract; when Aunt Tang was taking care of a child temporarily and the child got hurt, she was anxious about “whether she should take the responsibility” because of the “lack of an agreement”. These cases reflect the legal gap in the “Shared Grandmas” model: both parties in the service mostly rely on oral agreements, and key terms such as service content (such as whether it includes helping with homework and preparing meals), service time (such as how to handle overtime), and accident liability (such as a child getting injured or an elderly person having a sudden illness) are not clearly defined. Once a dispute occurs, parents may claim compensation for “poor care”, while the elderly may defend themselves by saying it was “unpaid help” or “unintentional”. Eventually, the originally warm mutual assistance relationship may turn into a legal lawsuit, exacerbating community conflicts.
Thirdly, the uneven service quality may weaken the sustainability of the model. Different from the standardized processes of professional daycare institutions, the service quality of “Shared Grandmas” highly depends on personal experience and sense of responsibility. Problems such as “using threatening education methods on children” and “having mood swings” mentioned in the news essentially reflect the misalignment between the caregivers’ educational concepts and the needs of child development. There is a generational gap between the growth background of retired elderly people and contemporary parenting concepts (for example, they tend to use “strict discipline” rather than “positive guidance”). Without necessary training, it may have a long-term negative impact on children’s psychological development. In addition, some elderly people may interrupt the service due to physical exhaustion (such as running out of energy during the pick-up and drop-off process) or loss of interest (such as the novelty of taking care of children wearing off), forcing parents to find a new caregiver again and increasing the uncertainty of parenting.
Suggestions for Entrepreneurs: From “Sharing” to “Co-caring”, Building a Standardized Service System
The core value of the “Shared Grandmas” model lies in “community mutual assistance”. However, to break through its development bottlenecks, entrepreneurs need to reconstruct the service process with a “standardized” mindset to reduce risks while retaining the warmth. The following are specific suggestions:
Establish a review and training mechanism to improve service standardization: Entrepreneurs can build a community-based “shared care platform” to conduct basic reviews (such as health checks and proof of no criminal record), skill training (such as child first-aid and psychological communication skills), and service certification for elderly people applying to be “Shared Grandmas”. For example, they can cooperate with the community health center to provide free physical examinations and collaborate with educational institutions to develop an “introductory course on child care”. After passing the assessment, a certification certificate will be issued to enhance parents’ trust.
Design a standardized service agreement to clarify the boundaries of responsibility: The platform needs to provide a templated service contract that clearly defines service content (such as pick-up and drop-off times and the scope of temporary care), fee standards (distinguishing between paid and voluntary services), and accident liability (such as purchasing short-term accident insurance and specifying the liability sharing in case of a child getting injured or an elderly person having a sudden illness). For example, parents and “Shared Grandmas” can sign an electronic contract through the platform, and the platform will simultaneously purchase “care liability insurance” for both parties to cover personal injury compensation during the service period and reduce the risk of disputes.
Build a community supervision and evaluation system to dynamically manage service quality: The platform can introduce a dual-track mechanism of “parent evaluation + community neighborhood committee supervision”. Parents can rate the service attitude and care methods of “Shared Grandmas”. Elderly people with a high number of negative reviews need to receive retraining or leave the platform; the community neighborhood committee can regularly organize offline communication activities (such as parenting experience sharing sessions) to promote the integration of intergenerational concepts. At the same time, it can collect potential problems in the service (such as an elderly person’s physical exhaustion) and adjust the service arrangement in a timely manner.
Explore a mixed model of “public welfare + market” to improve sustainability: For families with financial difficulties (such as single mothers like Wang Lin), subsidies can be provided in cooperation with the community or public welfare organizations to reduce their usage costs; for families with higher needs (such as those who need help with homework), a “value-added service package” (such as additional tutoring by retired teachers) can be launched, and the market-based fees can be used to support the public welfare part. This model can not only ensure the universality of the service but also encourage more elderly people to participate.
Strengthen technological empowerment to enhance safety protection: The platform can introduce smart devices (such as children’s positioning bracelets and home surveillance cameras). Parents can view their children’s location and the care scene in real-time through their mobile phones (with the consent of the elderly). This not only meets parents’ safety needs but also reduces excessive suspicion of “Shared Grandmas” and maintains the trust relationship.
The essence of the “Shared Grandmas” model is a community redistribution experiment on “time, emotion, and responsibility”. Its emergence confirms the strong driving force of social needs. However, to make this experiment shift from being “luck-dependent” to “sustainable”, entrepreneurs need to fill the trust loopholes with a standardized mindset and use technology and systems to support the mutual assistance relationship. Only in this way can “Shared Grandmas” truly become a warm bond connecting different generations and healing society.
- Startup Commentary”Three post-2005 entrepreneurs are reported to have secured a new financing of 350 million yuan.”
- Startup Commentary”Retired and Reemployed: I Became Everyone’s “Shared Grandma””
- Startup Commentary”YuJian XiaoMian Breaks Issue Price on Listing: Where Lies the Difficulty for Chinese Noodle Restaurants to Break Through in the Market? “
- Startup Commentary”Adjusting Permissions of Doubao Mobile Assistant: AI Phones Are a Flood, but Not a Beast”
- Startup Commentary”Moutai’s Self – rescue and Long – term Concerns”
