I did a double take when I first read the story. A fine strapping young man, stuck in a maze of winding streets, was unable to move a step forward, realizing that he was in for some trouble. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead - he was lost in a tangle of vehicles and pedestrians.

　　Believe me or not. It happened in the city where he was born and raised. Was it that he was mentally retarded or suffering from anything related to senile dementia? Far from it. A straight-A student, he could be reckoned a pride of his parents except that he just couldn't cope with the trivial everyday chores without his father being a prop to him in whatever circumstances.

　　It so happened that he and his father had been separated by the throngs of people and traffic on their way home from a company where he had applied for a job. Tentatively reaching out in all directions, vainly hoping to find the right path leading to his home, he suffered one setback after another.

　　Why not contact his father by telephone, someone may ask? He didn't own a mobile phone nor carry spare money to pay for a phone call. It had never occurred to him that he might be in need of them someday.

　　He was nearly at his wit's end when it suddenly dawned on him that policemen are invariably credited with having saved people from difficulties.

　　Eyeing the young man in disbelief, the policeman was nonplussed to find himself confronted by an adult asking a question so simple one would probably have expected it from a school boy. After informing him which bus to take and where to get off, the police officer was amazed to find he was still reluctant to go.

　　What's wrong with you, young man? You have no money, right? But 5 yuan would still not have been sufficient for his needs. In a similar manner, the policeman was also at his wits end when the young man spluttered a phone number.

　　The father at the other end of the line was so agitated that he promised to arrive in five minutes, urging the policemen not to put his son on the bus, because he couldn't cope with the situation.

　　A pampered grown-up? A tender flower nurtured in a greenhouse? Whatever he is, we certainly do not expect such frailty and inability to act on one's own from a generation on whom the future of our country rests. It is also unlikely that our parents would prefer that their children grow into whining wimps that cringe at the slightest discomfort.

　　Of course, people like him are few and far between. but if we care to look around, it won't be difficult to discover that youngsters today are being given an overdose of tender care that almost amounts to indulgence.

　　It is common knowledge that since the implementation of family planning, a single child has been regarded as the gem of the family, with the parents and grandparents indulging his/her every whim.

　　For example, school children from more affluent families are whisked off in cars after school while most parents take their children away on bikes or motor-cycles. Nearby restaurants are filled with students during lunchtime while meals provided by the schools are mostly ignored.

　　Parents normally do not dare to slacken their pace of care even when their children are admitted to schools of higher learning. Busy as they are, they go out of their way to help their children by lugging their luggage up the stairs and into their dormitories, even making the bed and such like trivialities.

　　It makes me recall what happened some 30-odd years ago when children in their teens were sent to remote areas to receive so-called re-education. In addition to the arduous farm work, they had to live on their own, with nobody caring for them. They had to brave it if they ever wanted to survive the hardships.

　　Therefore, we shall have nobody but ourselves to blame if our children show the white feather or lack of confidence in whatever they seek to accomplish.

　　By Chen Yunde