9th August, National Day is definitely a day to be thankful, to be proud, and to celebrate. Amid the exhaustion and demands of parenthood, we may not realise how good we have it, so I’m sharing 61 reasons, to mark our 61st birthday on why being a Singaporean parent is so downright awesome.
(Don’t forget to take our poll at the end of the article!)
FINANCIAL AID & GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
1. Enjoying one of the best maternity entitlement policies in Southeast Asia – we get 16 weeks of paid maternity leave.
2. Dads get 4 weeks of paid paternity leave — doubled in April 2025, and now mandatory rather than something you have to ask nicely for.
3. And then Shared Parental Leave on top of that — up to 10 weeks from April 2026, split between mum and dad however suits your family. Add it all up and Singaporean parents now have 30 weeks of paid leave between them.
4. Receiving the Baby Bonus cash gift — $11,000 for your first and second child, and $13,000 from the third onwards — because who knew taking care of such tiny human beings could be so expensive?
5. Then getting the Baby Bonus CDA [Child Development Account], which is absolute icing on the cake. Kickstarting your child’s savings AND matching what you deposit (up to a certain amount) is definitely not something many governments are willing or able to do. Banks like POSB even offer programmes that lets you maximise the account with added perks and savings schemes.
6. The Parenthood Tax Rebate ($5,000 to $20,000) that just gives you a sigh of relief when it’s tax filing season.
7. The brilliantly thoughtful idea that is Grandparent Caregiver Relief (up to $3,000) for working mums, making one feel just a little less guilty about relying so much on parents/in-laws for day-to-day child care.
8. Handicapped Child Relief ($7,500): a tremendous help to those who need it.
9. The Working Mother’s Child Relief, which for children born from 2024 is a flat $8,000 for your first, $10,000 for your second and $12,000 for each one after that. (If your children came along before 2024, you keep the older percentage-of-income version.) For many mums this is what lets her make ends meet or afford little luxuries in the care of her child.
10. Enlisting the help of foreign domestic workers and the subsidised government levy for the care of a child, an elder, or a person with disability.
11. HDB (Housing Development Board) flats that give Singaporeans the pride and long-term financial advantages of being home-owners.
12. The BTO (Build-To-Order) scheme, which lets young couples buy a brand new subsidised flat straight from HDB. It is the reason so many of us owned our first home in our twenties instead of renting into our forties.
13. SkillsFuture, so that a parent who wants to retrain after the baby years actually can. Every Singaporean gets $500 in credit, those of us at 40 and above were given another $4,000, and since December 2025 none of it expires.
14. Paid childcare leave days that really let us be there for our kids.
15. Peace of mind thanks to the Medisave scheme plus the savings it brings upon baby’s delivery.
16. A very low maternity death rate in terms of global rankings, thanks to excellent healthcare. I gave birth at Mount Elizabeth, Orchard, and the team there really took good care of me and my daughter.
17. No guns due to our strict gun laws.
18. No drugs (many) thanks to our harsh drug laws as well.
19. Both of these significantly contributing to our low crime rate.
20. The Dependant’s Protection Scheme that protects our loved ones when time comes that we can’t.
No one could have set a better example to generations of parents than the father of our nation, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.
HISTORY & CULTURE
21. The leadership example we have in Lee Kuan Yew and his legacy of building a great and prosperous nation.
22. Being immersed daily in a melting pot of races and consequently, traditions, cuisines, arts, languages, and so on.
23. Singapore is still the only place in the world where you can eat a Michelin-starred meal at a hawker centre — Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle has held its star every single year since 2016, when it became one of the first two street food stalls anywhere to be awarded one.
24. Having tons of messy, yummy fun eating Chilli crab, whether on family or date night. Roland Seafood is a great place to have it, since it’s right next to Parkway Parade too!
25. Ang Ku Kueh [red tortoise cake] at celebrations and festivals bringing back happy (end-of-) confinement memories. I can still taste the ones from Secret Moments. Yum.
26. Getting competitive over Yam Seng [“drink to success”] and remembering the merry rounds at your own wedding.
27. 24-hour Dim Sum for those midnight pregnancy cravings.
28. Then heading over to Mustafa (open 24 hours a day) to walk off that huge meal and get some shopping done.
发啊!
29. The rowdy Lo Hei [“tossing up good fortune”] CNY ritual that really does get you excited about the new year and what’s to come.
30. Getting to savor flavors from all over the world at Lau Pa Sat.
31. Tiger balm and all the relief it brings. Aaaaaaaah!
32. A meritocratic, equal opportunity society leading to a diverse workforce and a culture of excellence.
33. Singlish, because some things just can’t be expressed in English lah.
Our passport may be tiny but it is mighty, just like our beloved country!
TRAVEL
34. Our tiny but mighty passport — officially the strongest in the world, with visa-free access to 192 destinations, more than any other country on earth. Iceland, Fiji, Peru, Switzerland, Morocco, South Africa, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the UK and Spain, to name a very few.
35. And having family-friendly Changi Airport — named the world’s best again in 2026, for the fourteenth time — as the hub for all this travelling.
36. The superior service of Singapore Airlines, making trips with the kids that much easier and more memorable.
37. Add to that, direct flights to many parts of the world, letting us skip the hassle and stress of layovers.
38. The H-1B1 visa, which almost nobody outside Singapore has heard of. Our free trade agreement with the United States sets aside 5,400 of them for Singaporeans every year, and the quota has never once been filled — so our children can skip the H-1B lottery the rest of the world queues up for.
39. Being able to buy a house in New Zealand as if you were a New Zealander. Under our free trade agreement, Singaporeans are treated the same as locals under their overseas investment rules — we and the Australians are the only two. (Do check the current rules before you fall in love with somewhere in Wanaka.)
TECH
40. Singapore has produced many billion dollar tech companies like Razer, Grab, Lazada and Garena
41. Grab, making our daily lives so much easier.
42. theAsianparent app, of course! The parenting app that is both iOS and Android friendly. Sign up and get access to advice from experts and fellow mums/dads on all your parenting concerns. Expectant mums can also look forward to daily pregnancy and baby development notifications.
Access to a world-class education system open many doors around the world to our children.
EDUCATION
43. Our world class education system enabling generations of Singaporean children to become globally competitive and successful in their chosen fields. We constantly top Pisa rankings, with our children consistently ranking first in Maths and Science.
And we don’t even have to pay crazy school fees to have access to this excellent education system, vs. the rest of our neighbours whose Pisa rankings are no where close to ours.
44. Having relatively low school fees for first-rate education.
45. The Edusave scheme on top of this.
46. Swimming as part of the PE Syllabus in primary schools – it’s such a necessary life skill!
Swimming – fun, but also a crucial life skill for all kids.
47. The Smart Nation drive that’s enabling our kids to learn coding in school.
48. Singapore Math giving our kids a serious edge over many other students in the world.
49. Though not as famous as its Math counterpart, Singapore Science is undoubtedly topnotch, as our students rank first in the world for both subjects.
Weekends with kids are never boring in Singapore!
ENTERTAINMENT & ACTIVITIES
50. From learning to cook a new cuisine to coding and everything in between, our amazing Community Centres provide endless opportunities for life improvement. The family fun fitness activities and programmes for kids also serve as great cures for boredom and cabin fever! I spent so many summers at Marine Parade Community Center.
51. World class shopping malls with so many rooftop gardens and public play areas. The City Green park at City Square is a great haven in the city, plus it’s a very family-friendly mall.
52. Because kids eat for free at so many restaurants, mum and dad can indulge their gourmet cravings with the little ones in tow.
When it comes to kid-friendly activities, there’s no place like home!
53. Our gorgeous free parks that let our children commune with nature and offer opportunities for active play, picnics, exercise, or just going for relaxing strolls. A visit to the Botanic Gardens or Gardens by the Bay is always good for the soul.
54. Great walking weather and sunshine all year round.
55. Mum-and-baby movie screenings, complete with diaper changing stations, so you don’t have to give up the cinema for a few years.
56. Year-round fun at Sentosa, so you don’t actually have to venture far for family adventures.
57. Night Safari for the thrill plus the added value of education in such a unique setting.
58. Where else to take the kids on weekends? We have 27 public swimming complexes scattered across the island, plus sports halls and gyms in almost every town.
59. Our National Library Board, which is quietly one of the best things about raising children here. Membership is free, there are more than 800,000 ebooks and audiobooks to borrow from your sofa, and the same library card unlocks LinkedIn Learning, Udemy and PressReader at no cost at all.
60. Free entry to our national museums, all year round, just by showing your NRIC — the National Museum, the Asian Civilisations Museum, the National Gallery. A rainy Sunday with the children, sorted, for nothing.
61. “Best country in the world for kids to grow up!” — Singapore has topped Save the Children’s End of Childhood Index, which ranks where childhood is most protected, ahead of every Western European country on the list.
So there you have it – 61 incredible reasons that make us love our country even more!
Now it’s your turn, parents – Do you think Singapore is a safe country for kids? Let us know your opinion in the poll below!
Also READ: Stop asking me if I am Singaporean!
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