pasted from mr brown's website at http://www.mrbrown.com/
Breed
There was a survey recently that declared that "now even less
educated women don't want children".
Did we really need a fancy survey to come to that conclusion?
Said the principal investigator of the study, Dr Tan Thiam Chye.
"We didn't expect this. Previously, we had thought that it was the
higher educated women that did not want children."
You think less educated women are stupid one ah? Women, more
educated or less educated, all know the score in Singapore.
The whole study disturbs me too. I mean it's like it is saying,
"Shit! Even THOSE less educated baby-making machines are not
breeding? Gosh we're REALLY in trouble then."
These days, you either don't have kids, or you have them, but plan
to migrate.
Less people want to have children in Singapore. What does that tell
you about life here? Life is tough here, and it is only going to
get tougher. Having a family only adds to that strain.
You have 6.5 million people as a target in the next few decades
(mostly coming from without). You have rising costs and an
increasingly squeezed middle class and lower income class. You have
piss-poor special needs support infrastructure.
In fact, I reckon these days, people have kids DESPITE Singapore's
circumstances.
How many parents really buy into the ads of happy families used to
promote the ideal family life?
While filled with love and joy, family life is also filled with
worry, financial strain and challenges. More so than ever before.
Both parents have to work, always mindful that one or both may lose
their jobs. Aspirations to a better life are put on hold, and
survival is more important for now.
And in these so-called boom times, this unease, this lack of
confidence in the economy, and this wariness, persist. We are not
drinking the Kool-aid anymore.
Mayor of South West District, Dr Amy Khor said, in the same news
piece, "The survey shows that women often grapple with a number of
often competing demands and desires when considering whether to
have children"
"Looking ahead, the CDC hopes to work with the OGSS and other
organisations to organise programmes and activities that could
promote marriage and procreation."
Hey, here are a few "programmes and activities" you can introduce
that will promote marriage and procreation: jobs, work-life
balance, financial assistance, and a lower cost of living.
Address those, and maybe parents will take the condoms off.
Kids are a lifetime responsibility and no offset package, no
one-off baby bonus, no campaign, can change that.
Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, I have no regret having a
family. But don't for one moment think that it is all peaches and
cream. We certainly don't have any of those illusions in my
household.
