singles? small families?
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why is it that the amount of singles out there is getting more and more?
why is it that the family size is getting smaller and smaller?
is it due to the cost of living in sg and the stress?
how many child would you have if you're married? -
Has the youthful spirit of independence become stronger with each generation, so much so that it is preferable to stay single for a longer period then to be dependent on each other?
Or is youthfulness now wiser, to stay in romantic bliss as two single individuals then to be bogged down with the burden of procreation and attending to the responsibilities of family life?
This trend towards late marriages and smaller family group has not gone unnoticed by the Government, Consumer Groups, and the Industries.
The reasons can be many for staying single and for having smaller family group.
While much incentive has been created – from tax benefits, to the organizing of social groups for singles – still the “fear factor” remains strong to make the leap into marital responsibilities, and to have a bigger family group.
This continued “crisis” seems to be common with the Chinese, Eurasians, and less so with the Indians – if one measured it by ratio of the ethnic group.
The overall effect can only be detrimental to the continued dynamism in the economic future of Singapore, and has probably caused the Government to relax on its policy of allowing foreign talents to enter into the Singapore labor market.
Our personal preference - in staying single, or to those who are married and prefer a family size that do not replace itself – has caused a more competitive environment to ourselves in future.
So to everyone that is keen on this topic:
"Go forth and multiply, but do not seek ye the pleasures of the lowly, but maintain your fear in God" -
i would like to have a big family.
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It seems all First World(ok ok Atobe, don't lynch me)industrialized nations have this problem. It isn't solely a Singaporean one.
As the population grows more intelligent(<--not wise btw), they start to view marriage as too binding and a loss of personal freedom. And getting married requires a great deal of funds like the wedding dinner, the flat, renovations..etc. So people tend to go 'eww' when they see the initial costs of getting married.
Small families...well, i've see cousins bring up their single child. It was too horrible for human eyes
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Hi Stevenson101, I find your comment to be quite amusing, but why should you think I would want to lynch you ?
You are quite right to say that most in the First World industrialized nations seem to be having this problem of singles and small families, and that it is not solely a Singaporean experience.
Surprisingly, even in Mainland China, especially in the urban areas, this trend is becoming very common too, and China is not exactly a First World country as yet – at least not by the same measure.
Somehow modern day living seems to become more burdensome then in the days of the traditional agricultural or simple trading days (as in Singapore during the early 1950s).
The cost of living maybe affecting the decisions to stay single for most people – even up to middle age; while the thought of being bound by the responsibilities of a relationship seems to be quite daunting, especially when couples tend to change in character after the romance has worn itself out in the grind of everyday married life.
In Singapore today, it is quite common to have small private wedding receptions amongst close friends and relatives, with large wedding dinners being done away with; although in some families, the maintaining of “face” require a grand dinner party to be held to make a public announcement of the coming of age of the wedded couple.
The groomÂ’s parents in most Chinese families; will pay for the lavish dinners; while in the Eurasian and Caucasian families, the brideÂ’s side will pay the dinners.
Many wedding couples today will dispense away with such lavish dinners if their parents do not pay for it, and with whatever savings they have made, the wedding couple would prefer to spend on a honeymoon and build their new home.
Single child family, or no child family, can be attributed mostly to the occupational demands placed on the career women, while it can also be due to the hardship factor of a lower income family.
Surprisingly enough, many couples are also having problems in procreation, due to physical constraints that result in fertility problems, with some being caused by job stress, post-marital tensions, diet, or simple malfunction of the reproductive organs.
This is sad, and in some instances in-vitro assistance do not seem to be of any help.
It is little wonder that SM LKY had said that his greatest mistake is probably to protect Women's Rights with the Women's Charter; thus depriving some single women from ever experiencing motherhood as a second wife or mistress of some successful person who can afford to do so.
(N.B: Others have disputed the Women's Charter as being derogatory of the Singapore Women - read some articles printed in "Escape from Paradise"); -
if given the choice, i'll have no kids.
i'll get a vasectomy.
my money is much better spent on ME -
Originally posted by AzRaeL:i'll get a vasectomy.
you dun need to get a vasectomy to stay single u noe! -
that way i wont get anyone pregnantOriginally posted by wuming78: you dun need to get a vasectomy to stay single u noe!
or get saddled with child support payments -
Originally posted by AzRaeL:that way i wont get anyone pregnant
or get saddled with child support payments jus dun go "fooling" around and u wont get anyone pregnant! -
Vasectomy ????!!!!Originally posted by AzRaeL:if given the choice, i'll have no kids.
i'll get a vasectomy.
my money is much better spent on ME
Why go to such drastic extremes ?
Do you know what a build up of unreleased testorones can do to a guy ?
Have you not heard of condoms? Or do you prefer the "real things" in Life ?
If you do, you certainly know how to appreciate the finer pleasures of Life. -
Where did you get your information from? Are you sure he really said that?Originally posted by Atobe:[quote]
It is little wonder that SM LKY had said that his greatest mistake is probably to protect Women's Rights with the Women's Charter; thus depriving some single women from ever experiencing motherhood as a second wife or mistress of some successful person who can afford to do so. -
a Vasectomy has nothing to do with Testosterone.Originally posted by Atobe:Vasectomy ????!!!!
Why go to such drastic extremes ?
Do you know what a build up of unreleased testorones can do to a guy ?
Have you not heard of condoms? Or do you prefer the "real things" in Life ?
If you do, you certainly know how to appreciate the finer pleasures of Life.
Condoms are finicky...troublesome.
Reduced sensation -
but i like fooling aroundOriginally posted by wuming78: jus dun go "fooling" around and u wont get anyone pregnant! -
If you go back into the Straits Times archives, to the year in which SM LKY made his last speech as a PM at the annual National Day Rally speech at the Kallang Theatre.Originally posted by want to know:Where did you get your information from? Are you sure he really said that?
You will be able to find his speech covering his reflections on the achievements and mistakes during his time at the helm. -
The decision by many to have smaller families not doubt comprise of many complex and differing considerations.
Of course, the most basic and foundamentals ones would include the cost of having a large family, personal prefences, and the appropriate housing needs of a large sized family as compared to a smaller one.
I believe the arguments with concern towards the cost of having a large family would have been very familiar with many of us here.
However, I would like to highlight the point that it might also be prehaps, the decreasing size of the availible housing units that may be actually' forcing' family sizes to shrink too.
Consider a typical young couple who just got married.
While they may not req a large unit in the early phase of their marriage, four or five years down the line, chances are that the pair would have had children of their own.
Assuming that the couple's first appartment isa 4 room HDB flat, the available space would be already been very streched for the two parents and the two children.
Where would there be room for the third child to come in?
Now of course if we were to look solely at this statement, the argument would be very lame indeed.
However, if the relevant authorities could give some special financial assistance for couples who have decided to have larger families at least some limited financial assistence to get a larger 5-room unit for their first purchase, the move would probably lend a very helpful hand for such family planning.
Though there will be the usual black sheeps who will try to take advantage of the scheme if oneis available, I certainly believe that the authorities would have a hard time to track down family units who had participated in the scheme, but later decided against participation.
The periodic reacquiring of the loaned sum may thus be done by the authorities, and no harm would be done anyway.
The positive benefits of such family friendly assitance would not only play a significant role in helping large family startups to be easier, but may also be seen as a parallel extension of the Baby Bonus scheme revealed by the Prime Minister some time back in a bid to encourage population growth.
Incidently, the spirit of such schemes would also go hand in hand with MCDS' rigourous promotion of extended family contacts. -
i wonder if u ppl agreee with me on this and this may sound a little cryptic
what i tink is causing this trend (which is happening not onli in singapore but also in other developed nations) is due some what to technology or maybe a better term will be the media
y do i say that?
well..... for veri good example will be me typing this post right now... here i am sitting in front of my computer, communicating with other ppl.. BUT whats the underlying issue is that nonetheless i am still ALONE.. i am not talk to another person. in fact i am realli talking to MYSELF, responding to the questions not spoken by another, but by me..
this takes away the impact of talking face to face whereby lots of other factors come into play
i believe this is one reason y ppl nowadays are increasingly becoming more and more withdrawn and basically lack social skills
also take into account the phone... handphone whereby u are contactable ALL the time.. after sometime it rupulses u errr maybe not that drastic but something along these lines lah huh heh
also the daily contact we have with others nowadays compared to 2 decades ago... there is a realli big difference just look at ORCHARD rd oN a SAT~!!! hah
now its like friends but no friends
hmmz how to say? relationships are sort of diluting u know?
my thoughts heh
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It's good to know that you are deciding to render yourself genetically irrevelant to the Human Race... can go and be opted for the Darwin Awards liao...Originally posted by AzRaeL:if given the choice, i'll have no kids.
i'll get a vasectomy.
my money is much better spent on ME -
Originally posted by SingaporeTyrannosaur:It's good to know that you are deciding to render yourself genetically irrevelant to the Human Race... can go and be opted for the Darwin Awards liao...
x2 -
den dun go fooling around wif ur dick.Originally posted by AzRaeL:but i like fooling around
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if you look at it from another perspective, all these communication accesories are just methods of helping people keep in touch more, such that some people 'see' each other almost 24/7, hence the lack of stuff to chat about.Originally posted by dke:blah
i wouldn't exactly call it a bad thing, there're always people who take things to the extreme, ie. those that socialise purely on the net with an alter ego. -
no no thats precisely what i am trying to sayOriginally posted by nismoS132:if you look at it from another perspective, all these communication accesories are just methods of helping people keep in touch more, such that some people 'see' each other almost 24/7, hence the lack of stuff to chat about.
i wouldn't exactly call it a bad thing, there're always people who take things to the extreme, ie. those that socialise purely on the net with an alter ego.
these contraptions are meant to help us communicate more
BUT because of the massive amount of communication we handle
it becomes a problem of quality over quantity
moreover these 'means' of communication more often than not are 'long-distance' and the impact of face to face communication is no longer applicable
in a sense ppl nowadays are talking to themselves more often than not, especially on the Internet eg.forums