Don’t just love the logic.

Our baby bonus policies don’t address the root of the problem at all.

All it takes is this – make Singapore a place where we want to stay, want to bring up our kids, want to die in.

That means having to overhaul the education system, the high-stress work culture, the obsession with being number one.

We have been so successful because of the above three things, but obviously, many people don’t want their offspring to experience the same things. And the three things also encourage people not to have children.

After all, what happens if their children cannot get into a top school? What happens if their kids cannot become lawyer or doctor or banker?

Simple, by Singapore standards, their children are deemed as “unsuccessful”. Like that, better to spare the innocent from a life like this.

I fully agree with what you wrote here. As someone rightly pointed out somewhere else, the root problem is our materialistic lifestyle these days. Family values have all but eroded in our society. We fear “losing out” to our peers who are seemingly “more successful” in their career development.

So I don’t think the incentive offered by the Govt will reverse the birth rate; in fact it may worsen our materialistic inclination.