I used to be a teacher, and looking at my students struggling with the S'porean education system, i am quite hesitant to have a kid myself.

Now the education system is more stressful and competitive than ever. Not only do kids have to excel academically, they have to excel in their character, leadership abilities, ability to think on their feet, resilience, social and emotional skills, aesthetics appreciation, physical fitness, etc etc etc they are basically assessed on everything. The exam papers are much tougher than they used to be. And worse of all, all this --> and no guarantee of a good job in future.

I'm new to this forum, so I'm not sure if someone else has posted this. But anyway, hope to see a few replies. What do you all think?

education is one thing, family is another.

a kid can bring you joy.

Originally posted by gigabyte14:

education is one thing, family is another.

a kid can bring you joy.

And at the same time, kids are dangerous..

since when other countries education system r not stressful?

Originally posted by turbo_drift:

And at the same time, kids are dangerous..

they r money sucker too..

well they can be quite a handful at times, but happiness is what that counts.

it's not good to have baby goats in Urban Singapore

but seriously, if you are talking about having a child here, what's stopping you from refusing to be part of the rats in the rat race?

let your child go to school and learn.. let your child play and have a good childhood... let your child be apart from and not a part of the mess...

for ultimately, it is the choice of the parent to pressure the child, or let the child learn properly...

i've seen straight-A children who can't seem to talk about anything other than schoolwork.. they will grow up to be "successful" sociopaths whose mind is narrow as they will be unable to accept failure, unable to see from wider perspectives and be totally ignorant of everything else around them... and they will hate to learn, or even read a book.. rejecting everything that is not "relevant" to their little world.. dead eyes when they look at you..

and i've seen "average" children allowed to grow up and be children, they are lively, inquisitive, with a spark of joy of living.. they will grow up happy, loving life...

the choice is yours...

and don't say "society forced me to do..." you have the right to teach your children to reject what is accepted by society but you know is wrong...

do the right thing.. it is hard but the alternative will be harder...

every country got own set of problems wat
not just singapore....

the child belongs to u.....u are responsible for the upbringing....teaching him the right things, teaching him how to be a person.....
it's for urself......
it makes the family complete
there is someone to take care of u when u are old

Its a fantastic idea!!!! Only if someone else is paying to raise your kid.

FI have how many kids liao?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojWJ6-XmeQ

And nothing else needs to be said.

Hahahah ArdusKane.... that video is really funny.

I'm not exactly against having children. I've seen happy and well-brought up children (though these are few and far between) . This question just came to my mind after reading the papers about S'pore being on 'razor edge' - thinking of how govt always tells us how we need to maintain our competitive edge to survive, as we have no resources, etc. Sure, every country has its problems (and ours is low birth rate -how ironic). Was also reading about global warming -the earth could be in a really bad shape in 50 years' time.

So, was thinking if it's a good idea to bring a kid into this world with all these problems?

And what if the kid doesn't take care of you when you are old and dumps u in an old folks home instead?

Is the joy that the kids bring you worth all the money and effort spent?

Originally posted by TransientR:

And what if the kid doesn't take care of you when you are old and dumps u in an old folks home instead?

i said, depends on YOUR upbringing of the child rite?
did u teach him the values?

Originally posted by TransientR:

And what if the kid doesn't take care of you when you are old and dumps u in an old folks home instead?

Is the joy that the kids bring you worth all the money and effort spent?

That mindset of yours is pretty questionable.

A child is not a pure monetary investment which should yield monetary returns and be raised on the sole motivation of monetary incentives. If you believe that to be the case, then you're better off "playing safe" and not have a child.

Just to put things in perspective : in many Western societies, parents raise their children without any expectation of obligations of any sort from their children. In the US, many parents look forward to seeing their children "go to college" (which, for most, signals the end of the journey where parents are responsible for most of the child's financial burdens) and all they expect in return is for their grown-up children to raise their next generation...

In essence, life is what you make of it - if you want your children to render your investments worthwhile, then make sure you inculcate such values from young. Then again, everything in life is a gamble - there're no guarantees, are there?

Just try not to have a boy.

Have to waste 2yrs of life.

NO NO NO KIDS.

With the money you save, get a better car.

there's a saying: your child is a tao zhai gui meaning your child last lifetime might be your last lifetime parent or benefactor to born to u . ...no..no....NO NO CHILDREN FOR ME!!!!!

ok i disagree with the physical fitness part.. well if u consider the healthy lifestyle then so be it.

some say values.. upbringing of child. u can do your part but it's difficult when your child spends most of his time schooling in OUR education system which many feels breed elitism.

yes present singapore wants you to be good in everything but there is give and take. our country has always been a knowledge based economy from the start. it's a dog eat dog world. plus the mindset and mentality
simple way of putting it:

if u want your kid to excel academically then singapore is an excellent place to do it~

but other areas like sports, arts etc nah.. not the place for sportsmen and artists.

ok maybe not really related but remember everyone is an earthling. the earth is like a book. you only read a page if u stay in one country 4ever.

just my point of view.

Originally posted by FireIce:

every country got own set of problems wat
not just singapore....

the child belongs to u.....u are responsible for the upbringing....teaching him the right things, teaching him how to be a person.....
it's for urself......
it makes the family complete
there is someone to take care of u when u are old

i like this part...kids make the family complete, thats y ppl haf kids...its juz not a family without them

if you can balance family , work and self...

most importantly financially stability is a must...

Originally posted by walesa:
That mindset of yours is pretty questionable.

A child is not a pure monetary investment which should yield monetary returns and be raised on the sole motivation of monetary incentives. If you believe that to be the case, then you're better off "playing safe" and not have a child.

Just to put things in perspective : in many Western societies, parents raise their children without any expectation of obligations of any sort from their children. In the US, many parents look forward to seeing their children "go to college" (which, for most, signals the end of the journey where parents are responsible for most of the child's financial burdens) and all they expect in return is for their grown-up children to raise their next generation...

In essence, life is what you make of it - if you want your children to render your investments worthwhile, then make sure you inculcate such values from young. Then again, everything in life is a gamble - there're no guarantees, are there?

i totally agree with your views

asian culture has set the idea that people bring up kids as 'insurance' for their old age.

the advantage of having a kid is far more than disadvantage.
a kid can bring u joy, laughter, happiness and oso they make u grow up as a parent.
the most u support them for 23yrs of their life afterwhich its the other way round.
the best is to have at least 2 or more.

to answer TS :

NO! Its not a good idea AT ALL!

coz you know how well local born citizens are treated don't u? unless there is a complete changeover in the way its citizens are being governed, u dont want ur kids to suffer the elitist treatment yah?

Originally posted by ArdusKane:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojWJ6-XmeQ

And nothing else needs to be said.

QFE. Nuff said.

As a Human… Having kids is your duty