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Active parenthood can be achieved and celebrated

SINGAPORE — Active parenthood can be achievable and also celebrated, and it is something that the Government is encouraging through community efforts, said Member of Parliament for Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC Sun Xueling on Sunday (Sep 3).

Little ones toddling down a 3m race track at the start of the SAFRA Punggol Diaper Dash 2017 on Sep 3, 2017. The unique race for infants and toddlers is the highlight of the “My Family Fiesta – Making Singapore a Great Place for Families” event attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean and Members of Parliament for Pasir Ris - Punggol GRC, Senior Minister of State Dr Janil Puthucheary and Ms Sun Xueling. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/ TODAY

Little ones toddling down a 3m race track at the start of the SAFRA Punggol Diaper Dash 2017 on Sep 3, 2017. The unique race for infants and toddlers is the highlight of the “My Family Fiesta – Making Singapore a Great Place for Families” event attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean and Members of Parliament for Pasir Ris - Punggol GRC, Senior Minister of State Dr Janil Puthucheary and Ms Sun Xueling. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/ TODAY

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SINGAPORE — Active parenthood can be achievable and also celebrated, and it is something that the Government is encouraging through community efforts, said Member of Parliament for Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC Sun Xueling on Sunday (Sep 3).

These efforts include community events for families to come together, such as Sunday’s My Family Fiesta — Making Singapore a Great Place for Families event held at SAFRA Punggol, which drew some 12,000 participants as of 6.30pm.

One of the event’s highlights was the Diaper Dash, where five hundred babies aged six to 18 months competed over the past two days for the title of the “Fastest Baby in Singapore”. Parents could also attend talks on early childhood nutrition and parent-child communication.

Attended by Ms Sun, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Senior Minister of State for Education Janil Puthucheary, it was the last in a series of activities organised under My Family Weekend, which started from Thursday.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mr Teo reiterated the need for “everyone to help make Singapore a family-friendly place, and encourage families and parenthood”, while Dr Janil noted that the increase in pre-school spots in Singapore “has had a real impact”, with pre-school fees last year dropping for the first time in a decade.

Ms Sun also noted that the public sector has been encouraging more parents to take maternity and paternity leave, as well as shared parental leave, where fathers can use part of their wives’ maternity leave.

Currently, working parents, both in the public and private sectors, enjoy a total of 20 weeks of paid leave in the first year after the birth of their child. This comprises 16 weeks’ maternity leave, two weeks’ paternity leave, and one week each of paid childcare leave and unpaid infant-care leave per parent. Both parents get two weeks of unpaid leave in total.

Parents TODAY spoke to said that while recent initiatives are a step in the right direction, more can still be done to help parents.

Father-of-two and operations support services manager Evan Choe said that employers should be flexible about parents having to take urgent childcare leave. His seven-month-old son Reagan has been sick for almost a month, and either him or his wife — who also works full-time — has to take emergency childcare leave to take care of him.

“If we can have more childcare leave, that would be good,” the 34-year-old added. “We would preferably like for one parent to be home at all times. But of course there are benefits to putting your child in an infant-care centre. I noticed that my (two-year-old) daughter is more sociable now after entering.”

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