Make a second child less of a sacrifice for the first
Helping parents reduce the trade-offs for the children they already have could give them greater confidence to grow their families.
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The policy reset should also consider how having a younger sibling can be less of a perceived sacrifice and more of an advantage, says the writer.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Tan Poh Lin
During his National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a new set of enhancements to childcare leave for parents with children under 12, the replacement of the Baby Bonus cash gift and Large Families Scheme with a new SG Child Support Package, and additional pre-school subsidies.
In particular, the SG Child Support Package heralds a new era of government generosity in the form of child cash transfers. The enhancements represent an increase of $13,000 to $42,000 in per-child government financial support, which is not a trivial sum relative to the base support level of $20,000 to $49,000 under previous schemes.
