More Babies Are Needed
Statistics tell us that Singapore is most likely to fall short of babies again. Each year, about 50,000 babies are needed to replace the population. But according to Channel News Asia, so far only 32,630 babies were born until October of this year. In 2008, only 39,826 babies were born throughout the whole year.
Despite efforts made by the government to encourage Singaporeans to have more children, we still see a falling trend. Sociologists believe that the reason why Singapore is unable to hit its target in terms of the having having new babies each year is inflation. Parents naturally want to make sure that they can give their children a good future. But with the rising cost of living in Singapore, families are more careful about having more children.
What about you, how many kids do you have in your family? Are you planning to have more children? What factors will you consider before you decide to have more kids?
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My personal view is that families with at least 2 children are healthier, as companionship and support for the siblings are important. The nurturing of specific social skillsets as turn-taking and sharing will reap benefits later on in schools and in careers.
In Singapore, we need healthy families with quality time and quantity time together. We may have an equation of dysfunctional families whereby dads are traveling, unhappy relationships, and children having learning and social problems. The symptoms are surfacing.
Building resilient families needs individual responsibility and support policies from work community and government. It is not easy.
We could have 50,000 babies. This is quantity. But what of quality? We have high IQ, but selfish and conditional learning and responsibility children.This is no longer a MOE problem, but society problem. Fathers and mother need to spend more time at home so that children can learn to be constructive and responsible adults later in life. We cannot outsource lifeskills to just another teaching agency. Parents need to lead by example.
Nurturing children is about heart and mind. Heart work precedes hard work.Make time, and enjoy the child-adult interaction.
May be showing more flesh on the screen and showing that sex is not dirty . Singaporeans giggle like school girls when they see a bit of intimacy. Get on with it and procreate.