Getting up every two hours, breastfeeding, changing clothes and changing diapers, and coaxing children to sleep. A few months after day, you are ready for such a life?
As the fertility rate of Singapore's citizen has declined year by year, the government has provided generous assistance to families with Singapore children in recent years and shared the cost of raising children.After the fiscal budget in 2023 announced the increase of subsidies for babies' red cash awards and children's cultivation households, the family's first Singaporean children who were born on February 14 this year can get up to 24,000 yuan.Financial assistance, and the second and subsequent citizen children can also get more assistance.This includes baby red cash rewards, children's cultivation accounts and newborns health savings subsidies.
Three reads of Congress passed the joint savings (amendment) bill for children, and the paid accompanying maternity leave and non -salary nursery leave will increase next year.The passing of the Amendment Act means that citizen children born from January 1 next year, regardless of whether the child is born or adopted, the paid accompanying maternity leave will increase from two weeks to the four weeks.
TheThe Act also advocates that the children who are under the age of two are under the age of two, and each year's non -salaries can be applied for an unpaid childcare leave from six days to 12 days.I just upgraded to a father on September 15 and welcomed the measures.However, in addition to giving money and parenting fake benefits, the government should also consider assisting newborn parents at other levels.
After being a father, I realize that it is not easy to take care of the child.After parents dealt with diapers, breastfeeding, and sleeping all day long, they not only lack of sleep, but also affected their body and mind. The couples have a mouthful, I believe that there are not a few.The National Population Health Survey released in October shows that the poor psychological health ratio of locals has increased from 13.4%in 2020 to 17%in 2022.Among them, among young people aged 18 to 29, 25.3%of the mental health is not good.This means that many people face psychological health problems at this age of marriage and marriage.The government can explore free psychological counseling for newborn parents through medical or social welfare agencies to improve their mental health.
The government's existing measures focus on providing assistance for children after birth, but the cost of children before birth is not small.Faced with the continuous rise in living expenses, some couples learned that their children's costs were high before birth, and therefore rejected children and children.In addition to paying for production inspection fees before birth, parents have to purchase baby supplies and participate in parenting courses.This type of expenses seems insignificant, but for low -income families, buying bottles, cribs and strollers is a huge burden.The government should consider issuing some infant -bonus cash rewards before the child is born, which not only helps the subsidy for some expenses, but also rains in time for low -income groups to help them prepare a suitable living environment for their children.
Many parents now participate in training classes to master parenting skills before their children are born, and learn to wrap children with diapers, feed, bath, etc.These seemingly easy to palm, but the novice parents did not happen overnight.Before the child was born, the author also took such courses with his wife.The two courses for three days spent nearly 300 yuan.The government may wish to consider the allowance of courses such as expectant parents.This helps improve their ability to adapt, strengthen psychological construction, and reduce the pressure of life brought by the newborn.
The government has encouraged more and more measures for children, but these measures are still insufficient.The couple changed a lot after living with their children. From the original nine to five to the uninterrupted marathon day and night, it was a veritable "sweet burden" for parents' body and mind.In addition to giving money to the holidays to encourage fertility, Singapore's workplace and social culture should also make adjustments in attitude, to be aware of newborn parents, let them take care of their children and cultivate the next generation.
The author is United Morning Post Digital Edit