Skip to main content

Would you have kids because of the baby bonus?


The government has recently announced increases to the baby bonus scheme.  The scheme (!) is of course to encourage Singaporeans to have more children.  The current population replacement rate is 1.2.  I was initially mistaken that a replacement rate greater than 1 is pretty good.  Apparently the ratio is calculated using the number of female Singaporeans as the denominator.  That means we need a minimum replacement rate of 2 to maintain our population size.  In other words, the number of Singaporeans with pink ICs is dwindling and we are in desperate need of Singaporean babies.

Perhaps the fundamental question to ask is 'why are people not having children'?  Why are the cash incentives not doing much to save the situation?

I personally have chosen the dink path because I'm really not particularly fond of children.  I do think they're cute, but they are time-consuming and boy, do they take a long time to grow up, all 18 years in fact.  My dog Chewy was toilet-trained in a matter of months, she's so smart.  A child?  It'll take years before they outgrow their diapers.  You can't abandon or return the kid, you live with whatever God's given you.  You can't over-discipline the child, it's abuse.  Yet you cannot let them be, because they'll become a menace to society.  You can't properly develop your career because you have to take childcare leave and leave work at a respectable hour, yet you can't tell your kid how much you've chosen to give up because they'll retort that they never chose to be born.  You can't go on holidays on a whim.  You can't feel disappointed that they don't live up to your expectations.  You fall ill regularly because you get germs from their daycare or if they're not in daycare, you're constantly worried the maid is going to drop them on the floor.

No parent ever dared to vouch that raising a kid isn't backbreaking work, because it most definitely is.  Repeating the process several times does not make it any easier  so no economies there.

For now, I am selfishly hanging on to my freedom.  Let's revisit this topic when I hit 40.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Easter!

Busy Easter weekend! Got my screening report from the doctors on Thursday, I have to cut down on sugars, oily food and carbs.... uhoh, nothing about the lumps so i'm grateful. Marc Jacobs bag arrived in the evening, woohoo!   Good Friday was spent in Church and shopping at Sim Lim Square for Hao-e's new PC. Pilates on Saturday morning after a week's break, super out of shape.  think i should probably start doing some exercises at home and maybe go for swim downstairs when i get a chance. Chewy had a good scrubbing session at noon then off to watch Le Noir at Sands Theatre on Saturday afternoon, fun! Cousin-in-law's wedding dinner at Conrad on Saturday evening, no shark's fin which was a bummer. Easter mass on Sunday morning followed by Qingming thingamie at Mt Vernon. Sunday brunch at York Hotel's Penang Hawker Buffet, yum! Watched 1.5 movies too - GI Joe (meh) and SVFV (vulgar).  SVFV was the movie that  was banned and made the h...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tudors

I just realised how good looking Jonathon Rhys Meyers is? Gosh, i just love his chiseled face and beautiful eyes. Anyway, so i chanced upon this new series loosely based on THE Henry VIII, second king of the Tudor Dynasty. You guys should watch it if you are as besotted with him and as fascinated with anything royal as i am. hehe.... So i went to find out a bit more about the rather infamous king on wiki and here's some trivia about his eventful life ( i bet, with so many women around him?!) Technically, Henry was only married twice. Four of his marriages were annulled which means they never took place. His court jester was named Will Somers . The only surviving piece of clothing worn by Henry VIII is a cap of maintenance , awarded to the Mayor of Waterford , along with a bearing sword, in 1536 . It currently resides in the Waterford Museum of Treasures . Henry VIII was the first member of the English Royal Family to wear silk stockings.
7 comments
Read more
it's funny how you learn things about yourself - your likes and dislikes - every single day. here's a list of dislikes: eager beavers people who fake an accent people who talk more than they do people who claim credit when they've done nothing (oh! old debts) back-stabbers gossipers (is there such a word?) that stir up trouble like there ain't enough of that already?! inconsiderate people .... more to come, i just know it is it too much to ask to have decent people around? there's a chinese saying, that even on the same hand the fingers are of different lengths. but is it really impossible to have everyone cross a certain threshold of decency and not stick out like a sore thumb? i've often wondered why some 40 year olds act the way they do - as if they hate the whole world. i think i'm in danger of being that sort of 40 year old as the list gets longer, and i meet more obnoxious people. argh. (*_*)
4 comments
Read more