How Singapore helped me realise that I do not want kids Discussion

The_King · December 4, 2022

By most Singaporean metrics, I have a good life. I am able to support my siblings while they're studying, bring my family on holidays once in a while, and have no debt. I don't have terrible working condition or outrageous OT. Yet what we call a good life is far from an ideal life.

We are subjected to competition from a young age. Everything a kid does has to be beneficial to applying for a secondary school, to JC and then to uni. That's just the start. We have one of the longest work week in the world and one of the most stressed out workforce. If you're lucky, you get a 45-50 hours, 5 days work week, before even factoring the fact that most people don't get the luxury of leaving the office at the official hour.

We are constantly told that we must go above and beyond for our companies, that Singaporeans must work hard and be subjected to competition to remain competitive. Doing just the work that you're paid for is "quiet quitting" and is shameful. When someone dared to mention the possibility of a 4 days work week or having the right to disconnect, everyone and their mothers were up in arms about "the impact on productivity", even though none of the increase in productivity in the previous decades have been passed onto the workers. Let's not forget how we're "encouraged" to remain active in old age by upgrading our skills and working more.

Houses are getting smaller while at the same time, getting more out of reach for most. If you're not lucky to have found love in your early 20s, have fun waiting for your BTOs. Of course, you could turn to the resale market where all your savings get turned into ~~profit~~ retirement fund for the lucky ones who got there before you (but don't worry, only 1% of people own both a private and HDB property). No one questions why a resale market exist for public housing or why it's doing the job of generating retirement fund, instead of CPF.

So, a kid is subjected to stress from a young age, devote his entire life to work, after hours and on weekends, continue to work past retirement, all for a 30 years mortgage on an apartment that should only be big enough to have sex and raise more kids. Who the f*** looks at this and say "Wow, this is the life that I want my kids to have". And mind you, this is a picture of a decent life. God forbid if he was born poor, or LGBT or want to be single.

I have since understood the broader ethics about antinatalism which has nothing to do with the Singaporean context. But even if I ignore all ethical questions about having a kid, I could never find it in my conscience to subject a person to the life here.