What parents want: More childcare leave and family support

He also suggested that the colleague covering for the employee on maternity or paternity leave receive an additional stipend of $1,000 a month from the Government.

Greater joy

Aidaroyani Adam, chief executive of PPIS, a non-profit organisation providing services for women and families, said more than one-third of Muslim women identified a lack of time, along with difficulties managing work commitments, as the single greatest challenge to fulfilling their family aspirations.

This was among the findings of PPIS’ 2022 study on the aspirations of Singapore Muslim women, which surveyed 1,000 Muslim women aged 21 to 62.

Aidaroyani said a parent dealing with an unexpected loss of income may worry about household expenses, caregiving arrangements and their children’s needs.

“When much of a parent’s attention is necessarily focused on meeting these immediate needs, it can also affect the time and emotional capacity they have for their children and relationships.

“Conversely, difficulties at home can make it harder for parents to remain consistently employed or pursue opportunities that could improve the family’s longer-term financial position,” she said.

While Aidaroyani lauded the raising of the income ceiling for the student care fee assistance from $4,500 to $6,500 from January 2027, she noted that the current maximum assistance subsidy of $290 per child per month has remained unchanged since 2020.

Beyond time and money, some parents are also calling for stronger emotional support for new parents and an environment where their children can find happiness. They hope the education system can have lower stakes and bring the joy of learning to kids, while preparing them for the workforce.

Roxanne Toh, who has a one-year-old boy and two girls aged seven and nine, said: “What would really help is subsidised mental wellness support like counselling for pre-marriage and postpartum or confinement support.”

She said she found it challenging to take care of a newborn all over again after her two elder children went to primary school. She and her husband also had to learn to manage sibling relations, for instance, how to ensure each child gets adequate attention.

Toh, who works at a restaurant owned by her husband, said she hopes hospital nurses can visit parents of newborns after their discharge.

The 42-year-old now fears for her children’s mental well-being and whether they will be allowed to thrive at their own pace, wondering: “Would they really be happy growing up in Singapore?

“What would shape their memory of their country in the years to come? Would it just be a concrete jungle void of nature and memories of simple pleasures and joys?”

Use other kinds of leave for childcare

Recently, Parliament heard a number of proposals to help parents.

Earlier in August, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Elysa Chen suggested more government-paid childcare leave, extending childcare subsidies to stay-at-home mothers and increasing maternity leave to six months.

She also called for employees to be allowed to use their own medical leave to care for sick children or elderly parents. She asked for structured postpartum home visits and improved access to pre-school places, particularly in areas with higher demand.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah said the Marriage and Parenthood Reset Workgroup, which she chairs, is considering some of her suggestions.

Chen also said many parents have shown support for universal childcare subsidies.

Such support would recognise the contributions of stay-at-home parents, or those with different working arrangements where they cannot clock 56 hours a month to qualify for the infant and childcare subsidy scheme, Chen told ST.

Chen, who is a parent herself and executive director of CampusImpact, a social service agency which supports young people, said with help from the Government, employers can have family-friendly policies to attract and retain staff, and create healthy workplaces.

Chen also proposed providing Government grants or tax credits to help companies hire temporary staff, or funding a direct relief allowance for colleagues who step up to take on extra duties.

She also recommended that parents be allowed to use their own un-utilised sick leave entitlements to care for their ill children.

Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC MP David Hoe proposed that parents have six days of childcare leave until the child turns 12, and that parents get six days for each child.

Hoe also suggested introducing “jumbo” BTO flats to encourage couples to have more children by offering larger, specially designed HDB units paired with extra housing subsidies.

Another of his proposals is to reduce or waive the minimum occupation period for families expecting more children so that they can apply for a larger flat, and also to give them priority in these applications.

Hoe said three- or four-room flats cannot accommodate families with one or two kids and a helper.

Support for young people

Jean Yeung, director of social sciences at A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential, said the most important reason for the low fertility rate in Singapore is the low marriage rate.

“Overall, young people need to feel hopeful that they are supported and can build a meaningful and healthy family life in order for them to pursue marriage or parenthood.”

Yeung, who is also a professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Yin School of Medicine, hopes there will be more incentives provided to employers to create a more gender-equal and family-friendly work environment.

These include measures that reduce the opportunity costs of marriage and having children, such as equal opportunities for promotion for women, flexible work arrangements, providing daycare near work, and allowing men to take paternity leave and childcare leave, she said.

Tan Poh Lin, senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, said: “Perhaps the most important factor for family wellbeing is a greater sense of economic security, both at the current point in time, as well as the belief that their children will have bright economic prospects.”

She said current anxieties over the possibility that they could fall behind lead youth to prioritise jobs and financial stability over marriage and parenthood.

More people will be open to the “risky enterprise” of having children in a volatile climate if they can sense that there are guardrails in place and they can expect income and training support in the event of a shock, she said.

Tan noted that introducing more parenthood-linked leave provisions can end up causing discrimination against parents at the workplace.

“Hence, it would be ideal to simultaneously broaden access to family leave for non-parent workers, to increase quality time with family and normalise caregiving as a part of family life.”

Said Elysa Chen: “We want to make room for families by addressing the constant sense of having to make trade-offs. We need to create the breathing room for families to experience the everyday joys of raising children.”