Reactions to New Maternity Package

"What?! I won't get the new enhanced $6000 Baby Bonus CDA for 1st child?"

Seems like the new perks to incentivise delivering and raising offspring have raised quite a hullabaloo in the press. There is even a sarcastic suggestion that Singaporeans will start only copulating after marriage if they can get more perks from the government, in a letter that was really about how many people hung Singapore flags over the National Day period.

I'm glad (and amused!) that the online community, now probably best known as members of "Netroots", have moved successfully to get the government to back-date the package to benefit moms giving birth August 17 onwards, and not just Jan 09 onwards.

To put it delicately, watching this circus play out just illustrates a quintessential feature of human nature - our need for more, more, more!

August 17 back-dating not good enough? Backdate to January this year!

What about parents of children past 7 years, don't they deserve something?

And what about Dads? Shouldn't they get a little more than just the 6 days of infant care/ child sick leave days?

For this mother, knowing that the voices of working mothers are being heard and responded to is gratifying. I'm ecstatic that new mothers can look forward to 16 weeks with their newborns now - yay for my preggie friends!

What's also assuring is the effort to increase access to infant and childcare services. Altogether, they represent a commitment to family, and hopefully employers will take the cue to support this shift from workplace productivity to worklife balance, tough though the call may be.

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Ok, ok the story behind the photo above - this was Dylan after the 2nd time he completed an exhilarating ride on the miniature steam train Kaye-e at Peterkin Park today. For the full story, read the Daddy's blog entry.

He was so, so upset when the rides ended, that as we walked away he fought free of our arms, got down to the ground, and started running back to the train station!

So we just had to return to the station-master to ask for another ticket. To our surprise, he waved us in so Mommy, Daddy and Boy got our third ride for free!