When is it a good time to have children

flitter_flutter

New Member
Just wondering when a good time to have children is... Been married 2 yrs now and not young anymore. Now with revised govt incentives to make it more attractive to have kids, been toying with the idea to start soon. However with the uncertainty of the economic situation these days and perhaps the following years to come, we've kinda been holding back now.

Any comments or advise???
 


Don't have kids because of government incentives.

Have them because both of you really want to be parents and start this family.

And of cos, be realistic about things. Starting a family will mean a lifetime commitment needing you to adjust and change to grow and care for the kids. So, you have to look beyond financial aspect alone.
 
it's not just about the incentives but you must also be financially and mentally prepared to have children .. it's a 24/7 job to be parents (i have two children aged 2 years and 9 months respectively).

like the baby bonus for eg .. government gives $3K but it takes more than that to raise a child. what i'm saying is similar to what milo raised, don't have children just because of the incentives ..
 
good time is when your paternal/maternal instincts kick in and u're mentally ready to take on this new challenge... a challenge tat will last u for the next 20yrs at least.

if u're mentally ready, u'll be financially committed. raising kids are not expensive... most times, it's expensive becos of parents - not becos of kids. there's more than enough hand-me-downs in the market to ensure minimal spending so it's really the milk n diapers... if u're one of those mums who needs to carry some LV Diaper Bag, buy $600 Strollers and $100 toys... then it's tougher.
 
exactly! colleagues & my mum has been asking me the same qns..ie..when r we having a 3rd child? ..i simply told my mum..sure i can give birth again & u raise the kid for me..how abt that? seriously giving birth is easy...its wat comes after that tat is difficult...

i second cuclainne's view....wat is 3K seriously? its not even enough to cover anything at all...from the time the wife gets pregnant..you have to pay for the gynae...the scans...the folic acid & calcium pills & not 4getting the (fish oil)omega 3 tablets...den to the point tat u give birth..the hospital expenses...den to the diapers & the milk powder ( if the wife is not breastfeeding)....& the visits to the pediatrician....the list goes on...

wat is impt is your mentality & your finances...
 
It is very hard to say when you are ready.. sometimes you may think you are not ready because of the various committments etc etc.. but as long as want the child mentally anytime is good.

It is one of the most wonderful experience one can have .. and especially when you see you children growing up..

Like recently my children celebrated my birthday with me.. very simple.. with self-made cards and a birthday cake.. and when they sang the birthday song.. it moved me to tears .. tears of joy
 
"Anyway, the incentives means nothing when the pricing in Childcare increases too."

tats rite...from the point the government announce the new subsidy scheme in childcare...i knew tats the chance tat the centres will use to raising fees...true enuff..i juz recd a letter from the childcare informing us tat they will be raising the fees due to 'increasing cost'.......
 
ha ha over the years I think the govt gave me quite a lot of money

40K for tax rebate

18K cash for baby bonus

Not counting child-care and maid subsidy - probably another 30 to 40 K subsidy. and other tax incentives for wife.

So in total probably over 100K..

But money is nothing lah.. the money is just to help you. You still need to put in effort to raise your children
 
Hi every1, find this threads rather interesting while browsing thru the forum. Can I join in u gals? Short intro of myself. I juz gt married in Oct & currently a homemaker now. Job mkt kind of bad so far no news of interview from companies yet.

Btw a questn to ask all: Is it true that it is better for couples not to have baby for their 1st year of marriage? Reason is to let the couple get used each other lifestyles & have quality time of world of 2. Wats yr views?
 
eSummer,

1stly, don't assume all ladies in here lah.

there are pros and cons for having kids early or late. Of cos, we need to watch the bio clock for ladies. Also, energy level would be different.

Age factor is a significant consideration. i.e. can u afford the time to spend a few yrs. Frankly, if you have this buffer, I would recommend it. This is because a marriage and starting a family are all different transitions in life. Some couples marry only to start a marriage, i.e. they already gone thr live-in periods + getting to know the in-laws etc.

But I'm addressing more of couples that go through the various step at a time, i.e. date, marry and then stay together and have kids. Having everything big bang means rushing through all the process. So, if you want to experience, learn and enjoy each phase, don't rush it.

To sum it, if you are not in the rush, why rush?
 
Don't treat children as investment.. even investment for love.. because there is no guaranteed return.. it can collapse like the mini-bonds and become worthless.

Treat having children and bringing them up as a joy in giving love.. that itself should be sufficient reward for having children. Anything else is a bonus
 
it's in the nature. actually calling it an investment makes a very very good point...

it's precisely this same view tat makes ladies cry father cry mother when their relationships dun work out... they normally cite the number of years together, the sacrifices etc... then the person is called 'heartless' or some other terms...

Investment lor... in spore, if u invest and lose money - u can complain and have a chance to get your money back. it's a National problem.
 
Instead of investment, I would treat having children as giving love.. and it is a joy to give.. if there is any reward, it is the joy of giving and not the expectation that you will be rewarded in the future..
 
agree, no one invest without the prospects of gaining. But giving love is free without expectations.
 
there is never a good time or bad time to have a child. As long as both parties are ready, they should just go ahead. There are a lot of couples who could not have children, so those who are healthy and willing, pls go ahead. try not to wait.
 
tks 4 sharing..guess it really depds on individual couples when they are ready for kids. Its indeed a great committment. As for my case, my hubby wanna save 1st bfe the big "commitment" come into our life. But my gf feels that having kid doesnt need tat $$ & she even comments tat its cheap with the incentives given. Tats y shes expecting another boy on the way..
happy.gif
 
I've had a drink with some friends... all between 26-30... Somehow I feel that we are all mentally ready for a kid and others more so financially as well, there is a kind of inertia to start having a family. I've had two close frens who are def financially sound enough and have been through the topic of starting a family already. But when the time came to really spend the money, they decided to get a car first.

What does it really tell us?

What does mentally prepared mean? I feel as tho I am mentally prepared, but at the same time, financially, I dun feel so. I dun want to give up too much of life's indulgence at the moment just to bring a kid into the world. Does this mean i'm actually not as prepared as I think I am.
 
Sure... there are some things money just can't buy like joy and elation of having a kid. But to bring them up and not let them enjoy things that were experienced by myself like holidaying 2X a yr, new clothes, new gadgets.. etc... is it fair for the kid, i wonder...

I mean... i would feel so bad if i'm unable to provide for the kid what my parents provided me with... holidays, piano lessons, ballet lessons and all that...
 
I'm married for bout 2.5 years and we put off having a bb cuz we want to enjoy out 2-persons-world.

We started TTC more than 8 months ago. Sadly speaking, till now the stork has not visited me...

Sometimes when you give yourself a time frame, its not as if pop, you get preggy. It can be disappointing when your tat time of the month comes. But I tell myself try again next month. Not forget to mention my colleagues all get preggy when they tried. Even my sil who has irregular menses got preggy easily!

If we always think we are not prepared financially, then we will never start having a bb.
 
talk is well, just talk .. frankly speaking, my first pregnancy threw me and the husband off-guards because we weren't planning to start a family so soon after our ROM. i mean, we knew that we certainly wanted children but how do we even know whether we'll do a good job, be good parents? i constantly freaked out about this, as some first-time mommies do,and it certainly didn't help as the delivery date drew near. the first few days when she arrived home, i actually wondered if i made a mistake .. the constant crying, waking up in the middle of the night, anticipating her every needs, etc .. but slowly i grew into my role as a mother. with no. 2, i wondered if we could give her the same kind of love that no. 1 has been getting .. these kind of thoughts can really play with one's mind. so you see, talking about having children and really having them are two different things .. children can throw you off-track but it's up to you whether you can recover or not .. i know of some people who can't, and their kids are shuffled back and forth between grandparents, carers. honestly i don't think that these people are ready for children in their lives. they might say that they're ready, but in reality, they are not.
 
flitter,

"But to bring them up and not let them enjoy things that were experienced by myself like holidaying 2X a yr, new clothes, new gadgets.. etc... is it fair for the kid, i wonder...

I mean... i would feel so bad if i'm unable to provide for the kid what my parents provided me with... holidays, piano lessons, ballet lessons and all that..."

What do you mean by Not fair to the kids? Not having 2x holidays a year, new gadgets etc etc. We measure how well we bring up a kid by the material things? And if we can't give them material things (that we enjoyed) then it is not fair to them?
 
"If we always think we are not prepared financially, then we will never start having a bb."

Jinn,
The financial part is important. How many times do we see our own parents arguing about $$$?
 
Time is worth more to a kid than Materials... until they start loving balloons and little kiddy rides... hehe
 
my girl loves kiddy rides .. when it's stationary .. if we need to go and she doesn't want to get off, we put $1 in and when it moves, she will get off ..
 
powder, next time i'll let you know .. we always give free rides to other kids .. hahahah ..

green, yes for some reason she doesn't like it when it moves ..
 
i always envy the parents who dun need to put in the $1 coin... i blame my mum... she walau! can spend $10 just on kiddy rides at one-go!

but then i believe grandparents are the evil force who need to spoil the kids... thus creating a balance, and at least i have the chance to maximise my cane-usage... keke (kiddin)
 
i put at a place she can't reach... but actually i dun cane her lah, so far like 3-4 times only... but 1st time i made it abit more memorable... so that for now, i just need to walk to get the cane... and she'll go "i dun wan cane i dun wan cane.." then grab on to my legs... haha it's damn funny n cute!

HBH i did consider buying, but then like most humans... things outside is always better than at home.
 
i don't have cane but my eldest always kena stand at wall .. my husband is the kind that don't care where we are, as long as have wall, she will have to stand and face it if misbehaving.
 
the naughty wall thing doesn't work if the kid does not understand the concept of standing still at one corner... end up i'll vomit blood. but the joys of seeing them think they're smarter than us, trying to outsmart us, act blur... walau damn cute!
 
my husband don't believe in the cane and even if i smack the kid, i must tell him how hard because he doesn't believe in 'corporal punishment' though i think lately he might be changing his mind .. hahahah ..

aiyoh .. that day she threw a french fry on the floor while we were at botanic gardens. we asked her to pick it up but she insisted she doesn't want and started smacking her father. kena carry to face the wall until she decided that she will pick up the fry after all .. pick it up and started eating it .. alamak!
 
we bought the fries because she said she wanted it. after a while, she started running around and refusing to eat. that's when the fry incident happened - her father tried to give her one but she smacked it away, causing it to end up on the floor. that's why we asked her to pick it up la - i don't want my children to be litter bugs yah .. wait they are too young to serve CWO, me or/and the father will have to take their place .. hahahaha ..
 
I always remember my mum's "Lue tian jian" 99 strokes stance and the washing board kneeling style plus the altar kneeling pattern haha.

For kids, I believe coporal punishment is still a must lah. But most importantly the message must be delivered across why they kenna instead of just wacking and they do not know why they kenna wack for.

Like mum always say, "Must train from young".
 
same here..i believe in punishments & train from young....coz i can see the difference between kids who are being punished for the things they did wrong...n the kids who doesnt get punished..

i was kinda angry when i went to meet my son's teacher during meet-the-parents session...apparently the teacher did complain abt my son to my MIL (coz she is the 1 who bring n fetch him from sch)...& my MIL just told the teacher...'oh..his parents don't teach him or beat him 1...im always the bad guy who beat him..his parents spoil him..'

nbz...now i tok abt it...im getting hot liao loR..SHE is the 1 who spoils my son...she is also the 1 who always stop us from 'teaching' my son..i remembered once..when me n hub were trying to teach my son his spelling..den he refuse to learn n threw tantrums...so my hub got angry n took the cane to whip him..sekali...his mum came to stop my hub...& shouted...'aiya dun learn lah! no nid to learn lah! teach until so difficult....dont learn! go slp go slp!' & she pulled my son to bed...so who is the 1 who doesnt teach & doesnt beat here? *)&^@^&%!%$##@

& 2 days ago..my son kena cane by mi coz he was nottie...& tis time i did managed to teach him properly & explain to him wat he did wrong...coz my MIL wasnt home..& my son was apologetic after i explained to him...
 



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