Baby Gloom

By now , people should be aware that Singapore has a rapidly aging population. This Will lead to more money need to be spent on health care services and more importantly initiatives to keep seniors active and contributing to society. But why in the first place do we have a baby problem.

The problem lies in perhaps in my generation and people like me. I mean some people want to have families but it is a quite expensive to bring up a kid in Singapore. The cost of education is also quite high. But I would like to argue that it goes way beyond money. Of course the government has alot of monetary incentives for people to have children but that alone is never enough.

I think about myself and my friends and how tired we all seem to be when we meet up. Its like the pace of work in Singapore is very fast. We work hard and we work really long hours. I try to imagine what it would be like to go home after work and despite all the fatigue from work, still have to spend time nurturing a child, and I realise it is something that is really really hard to do.

The government does encourage a work life balance but at the end of the day, it is up to employers to put schemes in place to help their employees spend more time with their families.

Then there is the nature of our competitive education system and country in general, Everything is like a giant rat race from the moment a child enters school. In fact the whole country seems to be in a race, to get on the bus, the train to get to the food. We are not a friendly and gracious society and it sometimes feels as if everyone is only out for him or herself. Would anyone want to bring a child up in such a selfish society? What would the child learn from the adults around him?
Complain when you're unhappy, rush for seats, push people aside on the train, hesitate to help others. It is quite a bleak picture when I think about it.

And our transport system is so family unfriendly. I can sometimes barely get on the train and I can't imagine what mothers with strollers feel like.

Can this country become truly, a conducive place to bring up and nurture a child like? OF course! But that takes time. It takes society to be more kind, for parents to spend more time nurturing their children to be respectful and well-mannered, for employers to understand. But will it happen? probably not. Although the government will try their best, they are fighting a losing battle and society has to shift first before we become a great place to raise a child. And that, is the most difficult thing to achieve.