Skip to main content

Are you serious?

Of all the reasons put forward to explain why Singaporeans are not having more children, I don't think I've come across one that beats this.

The letter writer feels that HDB and private apartments are too small for people to have more children. Although the argument does concede that '... the size of an apartment is not the main reason for couples not having more children, but I am quite sure it plays a part', the point of the letter is that the apartments are too small and therefore they restrict the size of the family.

I know that HDB flats today are smaller than those built, say, 20 years ago. As pointed out in the letter, people do decide to sell their smaller, newer flats and buy older, bigger ones. I'm sure it's a big hassle doing so, and then there are also financial and other considerations, but those aside, what's wrong with staying in an older but bigger flat?

And as for the argument that siblings who share bedrooms get on each other's nerves, which was the writer's experience, well, siblings will get on each other's nerves, whether they share rooms or not. Unless they never interact with one another.

I am aware that I myself can be 'attacked' for being a pot calling a kettle black, since we only have one child...
Labels:

Comments

fuzzoo said…
I think some people are taking every opportunity to link whatever grouse they have to the low birth rate because they know this is important to the gahmen so they think the gahmen will do something about those problems if they are shown to be a cause of the low birth rate. Look at me - I have 3 kids and I stuff all 3 of them plus mother-in-law into one room, no problem.
11:51 pm
Anonymous said…
So maybe soon people will be saying cars cost too much, public transport and GST are going up, etc, so we are not having more children?
4:24 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

True train school

‘Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster.’ How would you like to have such a headmaster? I finally re-read (read it first as a teenager) Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window , a ‘school story’ by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, translated by Dorothy Britton. Totto-chan is the name Tesuko Kuroyanagi called herself, and the book is about her life during her school days at Tomoe Gakuen. Totto-chan was expelled from her first elementary school because of her ‘disruptive’ behaviour, which included constantly opening and closing her desk top (because she was so thrilled by it), ‘vandalising’ her desk (because there wasn’t enough space on the piece of paper to draw) and standing by the classroom window waiting for street musicians to pass by or talking to swallows. Her mother, although probably alarmed about the ...
3 comments
Read more

No wonder

According to a poll of about 300 people, reported in yesterday's Sunday Times, (how come nobody ever asks me these things?) , the Seven Wonders of Singapore are (in order of merit): 1. The Esplanade (a whopping 82 votes) 2. Changi Airport (53 votes) 3. Sentosa 4. The Merlion 5. The Singapore River 6. Food 7. Mount Faber and LKY (tie - 10 votes each) Some 'offbeat choices' which didn't make it to the top 7: aunties selling tissue paper at coffee shops, Singlish, kiasuism, 4D-Toto outlets and Newater (said someone of Newater: 'We are probably the only country with branded recycled sewage.' Well said, ha ha.). Maybe it's a personal bias but I feel that a 'Wonder' must also have strong historical and cultural/social value (so I'm rather miffed that Angkor Wat didn't make it to the 7 Wonders of the World; in fact it was never in the running for the top 7). Therefore, these choices are a little too modern for me. The Esplanade, for example, is a...
8 comments
Read more

When the best man doesn't win

Speaking of 'sway' spurned lovers, the latest one I've come across is in Love Revolution ( only 12 episodes!), a J show I recently watched. Heroine of the story is pretty, 30-ish Smart Doctor, who is dying to fall in love and get married. She meets Aspiring Actor and Broadcast Journalist (right). She falls for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks. It's obvious from the start (to the audience but not to her) that Aspiring Actor is nuts about her. But... she has fallen for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks already. No doubt, Smart Doctor and Broadcast Journalist must be given credit for their love that stands the tests of time, separation and misunderstanding, but the one who loves most in the show is undoubtedly Mr Aspiring Actor. What he does/does not do because of his undying love for Smart Doctor: Y does not pursue her at first because he is still struggling to survive in this small-time drama group and he knows he doesn't have much to offer Y resp...
Post a Comment
Read more