in a bid to induce the population to conceive... the Singaporean Government is going a step further... apart from tax-incentives... you have Romancing Singapore (free subscription required from STi) to help you feel a little more horny... i would think that there is probably more to just preventing a lopsided demograph and possible related financial imbalances... surely a child-friendly employment legislation (ie job security for mothers and longer maternal/parental leave, together with children's rights to guardian's care until a certain age) would be a greater incentive?! i believe that kids have a right to quality parental care...
i get annoyed sometimes by such apparent gimmick... and what comes to mind in a mini-revolt is Philip Larkin's poem:
This Be The Verse
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
--- Philip Larkin (1971) ---
ooops... should have forewarned that there would be strong and crude language...
now... i don't want my kid(s), if i ever have any, to feel like that!
posted by ~overacuppa~ on Tuesday, 14 December, 2004 at 12:25 hrs
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