OBJECTIVE：To standardize the use of children’s over-the-counter（OTC）drugs in China，control the risk of children’s self medication and ensure the safety of children’s medication. METHODS：The questionnaire was randomly distributed to pharmacy practitioners in retail pharmacies in 13/parents in 16 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government. The results of questionnaire survey were analyzed descriptively. The corresponding suggestions were put forward for the problems existing in the use of OTC drugs for children among pharmacy practitioners in retail pharmacies and parents.RESULTS：Totally 5 367 people filled the questionnaire at pharmacies，and 5 353 questionnaires were filled validly with effective rate of 99.74％；the number of consumers（parents）who filled the questionnaires was 6 111，and 5 094 questionnaires were filled validly with effective rate of 83.36％. The results of survey showed that 93.67％ of retail pharmacies were equipped with 1-2 licensed pharmacists；most of the employees in pharmacies had college degree（46.59％），and their professional knowledge was relatively weak，and only 30.00％ of them were very familiar with pharmaceutical professional knowledge. Pharmacy practitioners could provide basic pharmaceutical care，but they were not sensitive to the information of children’s age and weight；only 44.11％ of the practitioners would approve the dosage according to the age and weight of the children；98.09％ of pharmacies would regularly conduct OTC drugs knowledge training，but they did not pay attention to the knowledge of children related to drug use. About half of the pharmacy practitioners were very clear about the indications，usage and dosage，precautions of OTC drugs for children. About 70％ of parents did not fully understand the difference between prescription drugs，green OTC drugs and red OTC drugs，and did not know the risk of home OTC treatment；63.06％ of parents chose OTC drugs according to their previous experience， and 23.05％ of parents relied on drug advertisements to choose OTC drugs； 92.64％ of parents would read the drug instruction carefully before using OTC drugs， but they had blind spots in understanding many contents of the drug instruction. In the process of OTC drug use，46.21％ of parents had used adult OTC drugs for their children，and 41.54％ of parents did not convert the amount of children；52.89％ of parents said that their children suffered from adverse reactions after taking OTC drugs. CONCLUSIONS：The pharmacy practitioners have low education on the whole，professional level needs to be improved，their understanding of children’s OTC drugs is not comprehensive enough，and there is a lack of training on children’s medication knowledge. Parents have a poor awareness of children’s OTC drugs，and there are many problems in the process of using children’s OTC drugs，such as inaccurate dosage，using adult’s drugs. It is suggested that we should improve the access standard of pharmacy practitioners and increase the number of licensed pharmacists；organize special training on safe drug use for children to improve the pharmaceutical service ability of pharmacies；strengthen the supervision of retail pharmacies and formulate pharmaceutical care standards for the use of OTC drugs for children；strengthen the publicity and education on rational drug use for children and popularize the knowledge of safe drug use of OTC drugs for children；give full play to the guiding role of pharmacists and pay attention to the medication guidance of parents.