National Issue - Birth Rate

I've just got Morocco coming in. Welcome! That is the 62nd country.

It is not just about minding our language these days as everywhere you go, profanities seems too common. Maybe people think it sounds cool. I know all of these collected from years of experience and national service and they can even come in different dialects and languages. Is it cool? Jay Chou said it in his trailer for the Green Hornet: "Want to see something gool?" That has to do more with pronunciation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uDBVYKganE

Talking about pronunciation, if you are a pilot and the airport control tower official tells you to go onto runway 5R you may get confused and turn into 5L as people could get mistaken 5 Are-ler and 5 ell-ler and then it becomes an error, so why don't they just remove or change them 5R and 6L or something like that. Do not be shocked if a foreigner comes up to you and ask you about the coming Singapore Erection. The Election has to do with politics while the Erection has to do with birth rate.

One has to do with constituency boundaries the other of Total Fertility Rate (TFR). I do not know how to explain to foreigners things I am dumbfounded about myself. When you drive past a street in Hougang, you see a sign proclaiming Aljunied. You go past Geylang, you'll find a welcome sign: "Welcome to Marine Parade" and you start looking for the sea. Joo Chiat is no longer Joo Chiat so you better be careful what you are looking for in Joo Chiat and Holland V is in Tanjong Pagar. Maybe I'll just tell them that the kitchen is really the bedroom, the bedroom is n the washroom and the washroom is in the dining. Okay, I don't do politics so let's see what I can contribute to the nation. What about birth rate?

Getting Hitched

I became a father for no other specific or clever reason. I didn't get a single cent for child-rearing, tax incentives or extra child-care leave. I feel that they should do a back-pay and credit to my account. We have to go get a resale flat and after plonking the limited resources to do what is necessary to be a decent home we find that the curtains or blinds can wait so we used old curtains from mum and then used clothes pegs to put them on the window grills so that we could save up for it and do that later. That was way before Bill Gates did this for Windows. I was ahead of my time.

When you read about that pregnant woman who was trying to register her unborn child in a prestigious kindergarten who provides the links to primary and secondary education, you can see many frightened people. She is stressing herself, her hubby and her unborn child. Those who are younger, those who are single will think twice with marriage furthest from their minds. There is nothing wrong with people not getting married. Some wish to but for some reasons or due to circumstances they could not.

Do not go around harassing unmarried people to get married. That's what some relatives or friends do. You attend a wedding and people will point to you and say "you are next". I hope they don't do this at a funeral and say "you are next". The other problem is that there are more and more divorces. I get to hear from folks out there that there is no point in getting married because out of five friends, three are getting a divorce before they turned 40. But you are not your friends.

So getting hitched is a problem for a start. If you read about how much money you have to invest in to bring up a child, most people fainted but nobody says every child must play the piano or play the violin. If you can't play virtuoso with a piano or violin you can still become a tuner or you can recommend all kinds of violins to buyers. It is okay if you only know how to play a CD or DVD player. All males and females are spending too much time at work or business such that there is little time to relax or for communication let alone having the time and stamina to make babies.

TFR

If measured for child birth it is Total Fertility Rate and for divorce it is Total Fatality Rate. Reports that came in suggested more and more women themselves are cheating but though it is so they still cannot beat the men. Most people have a misconception here. Those who say they do not want to have children even after they got married may have missed something. They say they wanted to enjoy their current lifestyle. Nothing wrong here except that childbirth is not like beer on tap and by pressing a nozzle beer flows out. By the time you want it, it may not come.

Others may have been mixed up between procreation and recreation. You are each given a sex organ for a higher purpose. Males and females who treat it as sports and it becomes recreation but procreation is the real purpose. Even animals have such instincts to have their young, protect and nurture them. For those who has a choice, it is not complete without children. For those who already have children, you will understand what I mean when the children are not around, the house and the home is quiet and empty. Well, given the right circumstances I should have a couple more.

Why Children?

Picture everything you are enjoying today. Champagne, food, work achievements, holidays to exotic location, friends, your beautiful home, cars, iPhones, games, money, sports and all the endless things that you are enjoying. Would you be here to savour all these if your parents decided that life was tough (and it really was) and do not wish to have children. What about the relationship you enjoyed with your parents? Some people I know lost their fathers and the mother worked day and night to make ends meet and send their brood to university. What about the good relationship with your siblings (not including those who are at odds).

Few people in Singapore thinks that having children is a priority. Most placed greater values in having a successful career at the top of their list or gaining financial independence. If most of us were to just look at the costs of raising children we would have fainted many times over, wake up and faint again. Others cited lack of time, not enough incentives, shortage of paternity leave. Frankly, if we were to look at things from this angle, we are barking up the wrong tree. In life there are tangibles and intangibles - always.

Firstly, you may not know it but all humans have sexual organs. You have it for a purpose. Make that a higher purpose. Use it or loose it but do so in a correct and moral way. Your family life is not complete without children and it is actually a requirement for a more purposeful and meaningful life. The unspeakable joy of witnessing a childbirth is a priceless miracle. Watching them grow up over the years is such a great experience of someone resembling you and is something no one should miss. The process of bringing them up and showing them the ropes is a great source of inspiration and great happiness even with the headaches, heartaches and sacrifices thrown in. It is the glue that bonds a marriage and the entire family despite their frequent antics and tantrums.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHtZJC_4YmE

A fragile life placed into your hands and thrust upon you gives you the greatest responsibility of your life which no career or businesses can match. Trust me it is harder. How the world becomes in the future is partly down to how we teach our children. We are mere mortals but yet the only way to have someone closely resembling you is your only way to immortality. People who may not like children at first, becomes very different when they have their own.

There'll be days when you have to work late and your children refused to go to bed until they see you safely home and quite often they waited till they slumbered and fell asleep on the sofa while waiting. Have you experienced that or have you been too busy to notice? Mama said there'll be days like these - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns1exm8Y5r4

All we need to do is really to change our mindset. Now is the time to re-evaluate what is truly important in life and what are things that we should hold dearly close to our hearts. This should really include children. For what is the point of knowing the costs of everything but the value of none. We may not know it because at each stage of our lives we can only see clearly what is right in front of our noses. So our decision is always based on "now". You won't know it until you go through it. Holding a child in your hands, changing a toddler's clothes for him or her, telling them stories, explaining simple things to them and when you see their eyes sparkle with the magic of their smiles, their innocent ways, tucking them into bed and getting rid of monsters under the beds brings you into a world of fantasy where you are a hero or heroine.

Our parents could bring us here with what little they have, why can't we when we are in a much better position at any time than in the past. With low infant mortality rate here plus top class medical facilities not to mention gynecologists who can skilfully tuck in a nice navel than in the old days and yet we do not want babies. Poorer countries have parents who could still bring up their brood.

Time to replicate what your parents do and do it for the right reason otherwise you may have to confess the painful truth someday to your children that they were here because of some tax rebates and extra days off which some of you use to play more golf and guys please do not lay your eggs and fly off from the nest. Remember your children get to choose your old folks home. Finally, remember it is about procreation not recreation. Recreation is sports. I see guys very protective of their daughters and would punch the day light of any guy that comes close but yet on their own it is quite okay if they treat other's daughters as recreation. Isn't that equal to punching yourself? I hope some of you would agree with me.

P.S.The S-League has started. My Sengkang team is now renamed Hougang and I hope they do not play like longkang. They started brightly with a 1-0 win in the opening match before their old habits of losing started creeping in. The Dolphins are now Cheetahs and I want their jersey!