Taipei children between the ages of three and six go to sleep later than their counterparts in Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing and Shanghai, according to a survey conducted by a Japanese think tank.
Japan's Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday the results of a survey conducted by the Benesse Educational and Research Development Center covering roughly 6,000 parents in five Asian cities, with the aim of better understanding their children's habits and behavior, according to CNA.
The results showed that only 26.4 percent of children in Taipei between the ages of three to six went to bed before 9pm, compared to 79.5 percent in Shanghai.
Tokyo followed after Shanghai for the earliest average bedtime, at 75.8 percent.
In Seoul, only 48.2 percent of children rose before 7am, compared with 56.1 percent for Taipei's children. A huge 95.9 percent of Beijing tots rose before 7am.
Children in Tokyo slept the longest -- an average of 10 hours and 6 minutes per day. It was the only city out of the five that had an average of more than 10 hours.
Tokyo children also ranked first in terms of the amount of TV they watch, with each child catching a daily average of 3 hours and 43 minutes of the boob tube.
Taipei remained in the middle with 2 hours and 50 minutes a day spent in front of the TV, and Shanghai was the lowest, at 1 hour and 43 minutes.
Compared with a survey conducted in 2000 in Tokyo, the bedtime for children in that city had moved forward, while average hours spent watching TV, videos and DVDs declined, according to a Japan Corporate News report last October.
The new survey also asked parents what their expectations were for their children.
In Japan, parents most hoped that their children would cherish friendship and their friends. This was followed by "not troubling others" and "respect for the family."
However, in Taipei and other cities, respect for family ranked highest.
In Taipei, the second-most popular expectation for children was eventual good career performance, followed by fulfilling social responsibilities, "not troubling others," the respect of others and expression of leadership qualities.
Last on the list was cherishing friends and friendship.
The Benesse Educational and Research Development Center was established in April last year. It conducts surveys and studies on issues related to trends in education, children, teachers and parents.
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