The work reveals the study of the unique phenomenon of “forsaken children” in Chinese society in the aspect of parental labor. The differences in the development needs of two types of respondents were compared: those who were previously “abandoned children” and those who avoided such an experience. The study took into account data from a survey conducted in China in 2021. The results showed that respondents who had a lack of parental attention in childhood had less need to monitor the growth of their own children than informants who grew up in families with preserved close relationships between generations. It is noted that the former have a higher desire to go through childhood and adolescence again, change their social status and compensation of unrealized personal ambitions was higher than the respondents-parents who were not “forsaken children” in the past. The effect of these factors can lead to increased motivation in the development of subjects of parental labor belonging to the first category, which will affect the process of raising their own progeny.