青春期无人陪伴，心理发生异常无人引导，遭遇校园霸凌，无法融入当地社会……一边是持续升温的低龄留学，另一边又是小留学生的辛酸故事。你的孩子真的适合低龄留学吗？

 

Parachute kids are children sent to a new country to live alone or with a caregiver while their parents remain in their home country, also called parachute children.

“降落伞儿童”（小留学生）指那些被送到另一个国家独自生活，或者有人照顾起居的孩子，而他们的父母仍留在本国国内，英文中也称为parachute children。

 

Parents may place their children with distant relatives or paid caretakers, or simply buy a house for them and have them stay alone.

父母有时把孩子托付给远亲，或者花钱雇人照顾，也可能给孩子买个房子让他们独立居住。

 

这些小留学生的父母经常奔波于本国和孩子所在的国家之间，如同“空中飞人”。所以这一类父母被人戏称为astronaut parents（宇航员父母）。

 

As sending young children to the US for school becomes more and more fashionable in China, wealthy parents should think carefully about one question before they rush to follow the fad: Is your child really ready to live in a foreign country and assimilate to a completely unfamiliar culture without proper supervision and hands-on guidance?

在中国，把低龄的孩子送去美国读书越来越流行，富有的家长们在跟风之前应该仔细思考一个问题：你的孩子真的准备好了在没有适当监督和亲自指导的情况下，在国外生活，适应完全不熟悉的文化了吗？