<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Few babies? It's the Hotel Mama mindset
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IT IS not by chance that Singapore has such a low fertility rate. There are many contributing factors, but an important one is the housing policy and the mindset behind it.
In Europe and the United States, people leave their homes in their early 20s or even earlier. With their salaries, they can afford to rent a place, maybe with a friend or two. Those aged 25 and above, who are still living at home, are considered strange, immature and lacking in independence.
In the West, people in their 20s experiment, enjoy their freedom and have probably more than one relationship before they settle down and start a family.
In Singapore, it is a policy that only married couples can have an affordable, subsidised flat. It is way too expensive for someone who has just entered the workforce to rent or buy an apartment on the resale market. So they live with their parents and enjoy Hotel Mama, which is comfortable and saves them some money.
But they have to follow their parents' rules, such as, 'When I wake up, you have to be in your bed, alone'. Bringing a lover home is out of the question. For them, childhood continues until they are well into their 30s.
Is it then really surprising that there are not many babies?
It is not just a question of having no private space. It is also a question of mentality. In the West, young people learn early to stand on their own feet, to take care of themselves, to live their own lives.
In Singapore, the young are conditioned to follow the rules, to live for their schools or jobs, to listen to their parents and to be obedient citizens.
But different qualities are needed for starting a family, such as readiness to take risks, independence and the ability to have fun.
In Singapore, there is too much emphasis on obedience, too little on independence. That is not good for having babies.
Some might say that Singapore has no choice because it is a small island. But I don't know any other big city which has so much empty land, even at the best locations next to underground train stations.
It seems to be the policy here to make available only a little land for buildings and to keep property prices sky-high.
Peter Huber
http://www.facebook.com/peterhubersg
http://www.codeproject.com/script/Membership/View.aspx?mid=2558097
Member Profile: Peter Huber SG
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<TABLE style="WIDTH: 90%; MARGIN-LEFT: 17px" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Friendly Url</TD><TD class=SmallText>http://www.codeproject.com/Members/Peter-Huber-SG</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Status</TD><TD style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap" class=SmallText align=left>Silver. Member No. 2558097
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I would be very interested to do SW development in Singapore for an international .NET project.</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Location</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>
Singapore</TD></TR><TR><TD class=SmallText>Job Title</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>Web Developer</TD></TR><TR><TD class=SmallText>Company</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Member since</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>Friday, December 23, 2005
(3 years, 8 months) </TD><TD style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap" rowSpan=2 align=right></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Homepage</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>http://www.peterbox.com</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<TABLE id=story_comments border=0 cellSpacing=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR id=comments_body><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=heading>Latest comments</TD></TR><TR><TD id=messageDisplayRegion width="100%"><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" class=Post cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>I think Peter Huber made a good observation about the impact of the housing policy on marriage. Certainly, many couples are marrying later as the HDB queues get longer. However, marrying later does not necessarily result in a lower fertility rate. I suspect that most young couples are putting off parenthood because their priority is growing their incomes, to be able to afford a decent apartment, car and other things.
Huber's observations about the young being conditioned to follow the rules and the lack of private space to explore physical relationship are valid but his conclusion may not be so. For instance, these factors were valid in Singapore in the past but we managed to attain a higher fertility rate then. As he said, "there are many contributing factors".
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: Baikinman at Wed Sep 09 04:30:29 SGT 2009
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IT IS not by chance that Singapore has such a low fertility rate. There are many contributing factors, but an important one is the housing policy and the mindset behind it.
In Europe and the United States, people leave their homes in their early 20s or even earlier. With their salaries, they can afford to rent a place, maybe with a friend or two. Those aged 25 and above, who are still living at home, are considered strange, immature and lacking in independence.
In the West, people in their 20s experiment, enjoy their freedom and have probably more than one relationship before they settle down and start a family.
In Singapore, it is a policy that only married couples can have an affordable, subsidised flat. It is way too expensive for someone who has just entered the workforce to rent or buy an apartment on the resale market. So they live with their parents and enjoy Hotel Mama, which is comfortable and saves them some money.
But they have to follow their parents' rules, such as, 'When I wake up, you have to be in your bed, alone'. Bringing a lover home is out of the question. For them, childhood continues until they are well into their 30s.
Is it then really surprising that there are not many babies?
It is not just a question of having no private space. It is also a question of mentality. In the West, young people learn early to stand on their own feet, to take care of themselves, to live their own lives.
In Singapore, the young are conditioned to follow the rules, to live for their schools or jobs, to listen to their parents and to be obedient citizens.
But different qualities are needed for starting a family, such as readiness to take risks, independence and the ability to have fun.
In Singapore, there is too much emphasis on obedience, too little on independence. That is not good for having babies.
Some might say that Singapore has no choice because it is a small island. But I don't know any other big city which has so much empty land, even at the best locations next to underground train stations.
It seems to be the policy here to make available only a little land for buildings and to keep property prices sky-high.
Peter Huber
http://www.facebook.com/peterhubersg
http://www.codeproject.com/script/Membership/View.aspx?mid=2558097
Member Profile: Peter Huber SG
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<TABLE style="WIDTH: 90%; MARGIN-LEFT: 17px" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Friendly Url</TD><TD class=SmallText>http://www.codeproject.com/Members/Peter-Huber-SG</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Status</TD><TD style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap" class=SmallText align=left>Silver. Member No. 2558097
Blog:
</TD></TR><TR id=ctl00_MC_Prof_NoAwardsRow><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap" class=SmallText>Messages Posted</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>99 - Poster</TD></TR><TR><TD style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap" class=SmallText>Articles Submitted</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>3 - Contributor</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Biography</TD><TD class=SmallText width="100%" align=left>SW Dev Manager from Switzerland living in SingaporeI would be very interested to do SW development in Singapore for an international .NET project.</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Location</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>
(3 years, 8 months) </TD><TD style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap" rowSpan=2 align=right></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=SmallText>Homepage</TD><TD class=SmallText align=left>http://www.peterbox.com</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
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<TABLE id=story_comments border=0 cellSpacing=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR id=comments_body><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=heading>Latest comments</TD></TR><TR><TD id=messageDisplayRegion width="100%"><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" class=Post cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>I think Peter Huber made a good observation about the impact of the housing policy on marriage. Certainly, many couples are marrying later as the HDB queues get longer. However, marrying later does not necessarily result in a lower fertility rate. I suspect that most young couples are putting off parenthood because their priority is growing their incomes, to be able to afford a decent apartment, car and other things.
Huber's observations about the young being conditioned to follow the rules and the lack of private space to explore physical relationship are valid but his conclusion may not be so. For instance, these factors were valid in Singapore in the past but we managed to attain a higher fertility rate then. As he said, "there are many contributing factors".
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: Baikinman at Wed Sep 09 04:30:29 SGT 2009
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