This article originally appeared on our sister website, Urban Family Shanghai.
By Yuzhou Hu
A newly-opened parent-child restaurant in Shanghai has gone viral, but not for its cuisine. Instead, the restaurant has generated heated debate online due to its luxury services — in particular a children's spa.
According to What's On Weibo, the restaurant, named "Twinkle Premium Kids Cafe," has swiftly captured many mother's hearts with its well-decorated environment since opening on August 4. Apart from the regular dining area, it also contains an indoor playground as well as a spa for kids. But it's the spa that has pushed Twinkle Premium Kids Cafe into the spotlight.
Without a doubt, the kids' spa is like a dream come true for any little girl who likes to be pampered. Sitting in an environment reminiscent of a Disney princess movie, each child wears a pink bathrobe and enjoys a relaxing foot bath while sipping a glass of grape juice. The experience lasts three hours.
Image via lanmao/Dianping
Luxurious as it sounds, a comment from one social media user has dragged parents and kids back to reality. "These girls are too young for this," wrote one user on the platform Xiaohongshu. "Girls at this age should study and learn some knowledge."
It didn't take long before more comments came through criticizing the spa.
Many social media users argued that spending RMB218 to give a child a three-hour spa would spoil them. They claimed that visiting the spa would not only be unhelpful in their personality development, but it would also encourage ‘Princess Syndrome' - a popular term in China used to refer to females who indulge in egocentrism and materialism.
Image via lanmao/Dianping
Despite the slew of critical comments, several users found no issue with the spa.
"Your kids won't catch Princess Syndrome because of a single RMB218 spa," one user posted. "What really matters is how you treat your children in your daily life."
"These moms just want to give their little ones the best they can," wrote another user. "I can't see how it's inappropriate."
In recent years, China has seen a rising number of parents investing in luxury services and goods for their kids. Apart from fancy branded wardrobes, parents have also increased spending on enrolling their children in various classes. In a social media post that went viral last year, one mother complained that a monthly salary of RMB30,000 was not enough to cover her daughter's expenses during the summer vacation.
[Cover image via Xiaohongshu]
This article was originally published by our sister magazine Urban Family Shanghai. For more articles like this, visit the Urban Family website, or follow the Urban Family WeChat account (ID: urbanfamilyshanghai).
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