It’s Mother’s Day tomorrow! I’ve got a gift ready for my mother and my grandma.
It’s funny how the presents gets smaller and more expensive every year. I guess, as we get older, we want to live up to a certain expectation of giving more extravagant presents. Like when you’re 8 years old, you would probably get your mom a hand-made card, when you’re 10 years old a picture frame, when you’re 18 a bouquet of flowers… and when you reach 20something, you get bird’s nest or spa vouchers.
See how as they get smaller, they get more expensive too?
Sadly, my angbao money doesn’t seem to be increasing at that rate.
I’d like to take this opportunity to share some thoughts I have on an advertisement I heard over the radio, encouraging people to have babies. Receiving Mother’s Day presents are nice, but definitely not a reason to have baby right?
The advertisement went something like “There are somethings in life you can wait, like queueing up for discount etc. But you can’t wait forever to start a family”, promoting MaybeBaby.sg , a site that gives information on making babies 
Isn’t it strange that the message seems to be asking people to get a baby tomorrow? I understand the government’s worries of Singapore’s aging and non-breeding population. But a message like this just rubs me the wrong way. I have been involved with children during my jobs and my internship, and I have seen too many irresponsible parents to know that… you shouldn’t be impulsive getting a baby. Does Singapore government really want lots of poorly cared for children that grows up with some sort of problems (be it emotional or mental) because their parents cannot fulfill their responsibility in bringing up their children with common sense? I’m not suggesting that the MaybeBaby.sg movement is sending the wrong message, they are just trying to give information to future parents. What I’m upset about, is the insufficient system in place that ensures the safety of children from families that imply cannot afford to even support themselves.
The government have been giving many monetary incentives for young couples to have babies and giving more welfare to mother’s at work. What I feel the government might be lacking is promoting quality parenthood and perhaps even harsher punishment for parents that do not carry out their duties as parents. The sad thing is simply: poorer couples, or couples from lower SES, who are less educated, are giving birth to half a dozen of kids, whereas high-flying couples have very few children or even none at all. We should be giving incentives to highly educated parents to aid them in having children. By incentives, I don’t mean giving out $10000 for a baby. The baby bonus is insufficient to attract the average or professional Singaporeans to want to have babies. Things like giving more maternal leave, implementing paternal leave, bonus to education, perhaps even a better chance in getting a domestic helper (maid) would encourage the average or professional Singaporean to have more babies.
I’m not saying that poorer people should have less rights to have babies. But after hearing about family of 10 with mal-nutrition child, parents in prison, or parents that are too busy to even look after their children… I feel that the government SHOULD implement a system to punish irresponsible parents. We don’t want a society of lower privileged, under-educated, mal-nutrition, physically or emotionally abused children! We want more babies, but we also want more educated, cared-for, healthy children to replace our society’s workforce! Perhaps a punish system would deter people from having babies… but would a random person that tortures, not feed, beat up another person get away scott free? If not, then the law should apply to parents and they should be even harsher because of the vulnerability of children.
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Pingback by Tweets that mention Mother's Day and Baby Bonus -- Topsy.com — May 8, 2010 @ 11:12 pm
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Comment by physician assistant — May 9, 2010 @ 5:01 pm
Many articles have documented that Singapore, Japan, Korea and other Asian nations have fertility rates that is below population replacement.
In 20 years the number of young child bearing age native born Singaporeans will drop to around 35% of the population.
SG will become a nation of older citizens.
What would you suggest?
David
Comment by David — May 12, 2010 @ 6:54 pm
Like I suggested in my post, the government could encourage birth rates emphasized on quality rather than on quantity. Meaning, the incentives should attract middle working class and above average professionals in starting a family. Instead of giving away money based on number of children, the government can do more to help cope with the hectic working lifestyles of typical Asian parents instead. Such as, providing more domestic helpers, day care centres with trained staffs, more maternal and paternal leaves, and even child care in the office.
In Singapore, if both parents are working, it’s almost impossible to bring up children *properly* without any other help. Not all day care centres are responsible, with certified staff to watch over their children. Moreover, I don’t think there’s paternal leave! I’ve heard in European countries, fathers can take up to 6 months of leave, and are encouraged to do so. They could arrange for better working hours for both parents so they can spend quality time with their children. Some institution, like NTU, already have day care centre built within the campus so that working adults can leave their kids in day care while they are working in the campus. Good systems in place to help parents would definitely encourage more working adults to be able to have more children without giving up monetary sacrifices. I’ve heard many parents, with both parents working, only earning SG$4000 or less. That is barely sufficient to bring up 1 child. If either parent have to stop working to bring up a child, the burden on the family, be it emotional or financially, would be too much to handle.
Comment by Priss — May 12, 2010 @ 7:55 pm