Little Emperors also bear the burden of heavy expectations. Parents who feel they lost their chance in the Cultural Revolution ("compensation syndrome"[1]) put immense pressure on these children to succeed and compete academically.[4] From an early age parents push their only child to educational extremes as they cater to their whims; "though many of these precocious kids can recite the English alphabet or read newspapers in traditional Chinese characters by the time they're 10, their parents often still perform basic tasks for them: fixing their hair, tying their shoes, wiping their bottoms."[6] Boarding school, private English lessons, music lessons and an additional range of extracurricular activities are the normal fare.[1]