Living in Shanghai with children: 5 words, with a feeling of incompatibility. However, choice and circumstance, idiosyncrasy and vicissitude all play their part into forming a cohesive life. Thus, some expats find themselves living in Shanghai with children.
Of course, there are benefits. Experience of here and now, bilingualism, future benefits of connections & opportunities and such are all good.
The main problem is, of course, the polluted air. So what can you do to protect your children against this?
Air filter:
Firstly, buy an air filter. Don’t think that an air filter won’t really work. It will. It will filter air, and you will see the results on the filter.
Remove dust from your home for just 1000 RMB
Short travel to better air:
Motivate yourself to go away on the weekend. If not every weekend, then every other weekend. This need not be expensive. You can find a place in Anji: 2 – 3 hours drive away, around 250 RMB a night with meals included. The accommodation is very basic, but you get beds, Internet, shower and toilet, lovely local meals of fresh meat and veg, and as many gulps of fresh air as you can manage.
You will need to have Chinese-language-help to book the place, and hire a car if you don’t own one, and therefore have a Chinese driving licence, but these are simple issues to conclude in order to envelope your offspring in mountain air and the verdant womb of Mother Nature.
Lint rollers:
Sticky lint rolls. As in the rolls that most may use for removing lint from clothes. You can clean your apartment well, but some dust will always fall on the bed. In this fight against dust and particles, one good way to protect your children against pollution in China is to roll these across their bed sheets every night, before bedtime. Dust shall be removed and you may pat yourself on the back and move on to the next parenting task, safe in the knowledge that a large glass of alcohol is at hand to ease our burden.
Face masks:
Yes, we are now living in a present that was once cast as a dystopian future, in which humans must wear some form of apparatus on their faces, because those in power are not keen on nature (or their fellow humans). Wear a proper face-mask.
Leave:
Leaving Shanghai is a good way to allow your children to breathe better air. This may not be a real possibility, as mentioned at the beginning of this pragmatically informative article. But it’s worth bearing in mind.
