SINGAPORE : Encouraging Singaporeans to have more babies is top priority with the government, but it also wants to make sure would-be parents are prepared.
And to help them with parenthood's challenges, the government is launching new family education initiatives to impart parenting skills before and after a child is born.
Christopher Chan and Loh Lih Woon are expecting their first baby next February.
The couple have been married for three years, and recently began attending a pre-parenting programme run by the Centre for Fathering.
Mr Chan said: "We realise that there is an urgency to communicate better, because when the baby comes there will be some form of stress. And during those stressful times, we really need those skills we have learnt in the classes."
Mdm Loh said: "It is very good that my husband gets to hear from other men because it is organised by the Centre for Fathering, and he has had the opportunity to hear from men, not women, how vital his role is at home and that has been very helpful."
The programme is part of an initiative to engage expectant couples in preparing for the birth of their child.
It will be extended beyond KK Women's and Children's Hospital and the Singapore General Hospital, to other hospitals like Mount Alvernia and Gleneagles.
The programme is based on research in US universities and involves three three-hour sessions - two before the birth and one after.
Another community programme will help parents with their new-borns, and even teach sign language to a six-month old child!
Parent Education will also be made available in all 40 NTUC childcare centres next February, benefiting some 4,000 families.
Ms Adeline Sum, CEO of NTUC Childcare, said: "It is a deepening and broadening of our engagement with parents that we already do now.
"Today, when many young Singaporeans live in a nuclear family, and they take care of the kids without the full assistance of grandparents on a daily basis, then they are very interested on how to do it."
Eighty schools will also now run the School Family Education programme, up from 40 schools since 2002.
This follows almost 100 percent of parents voicing their satisfaction with these family education programmes.
These announcements were made at the Family Matters Seminar and the Family Festival - events held as part of the International Year of the Family.
The Family Festival is the largest family event ever to be held in Singapore and organisers say they hope to attract over 100,000 families to its fun carnival-like atmosphere.
Events like these and other initiatives to help parents are some of the things that the government and the community are doing to create a supportive environment for strong families, but the rest is up to Singaporeans.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, said: "The government's role is to support, to help, to enable, but it cannot be the prime mover, and the prime creator of the family.
"I am by no means a perfect husband, or perfect father but I try, and I think my family is a happy family, and it is what makes life worth living."
The Family Festival is on at Suntec through the weekend. - CNA