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Happy, but stresses of work, cost of living are increasing

This week’s VoicesTODAY topic, “Can we ever be a happy society?”, caught my attention.

This week’s VoicesTODAY topic, “Can we ever be a happy society?”, caught my attention.

Being a mother of two, I am a happy Singaporean because we are a peaceful society with minimal disasters.

However, we have unhappy moments arising from lots of stress.

Firstly, upgrading ourselves to stay competitive is a challenging task for many people.

Working mothers, especially, have no time for further study; our children are the priority.

Fortunately, I completed my part-time degree before marriage.

Unfortunately, as a result, I got married at the age of 36 and had my first child two years later, as conceiving was difficult.

The Government encourages us to have children, but full-time work leaves us with insufficient time for our kids.

We are exhausted on weekdays, and try to spend quality time with our children on weekends.

Not all companies offer the privilege of time off for training during working hours, and we need our incomes.

We cannot have more time for ourselves unless we have no children.

Secondly, both my husband and I must work to keep up with the cost of living. We prepare our annual budget in January to avoid overspending.

For a family of five in a three-room flat, our monthly expenses, consisting of groceries, utilities and telephone bills, insurance coverage, car expenses (for an 800cc vehicle), childcare fees and medical costs, can total S$7,000.

To have more children, more income is needed. Raising a child, especially up to the age of seven, is costly.

Even with increased childcare subsidies, we pay S$690 per child for private childcare — services not provided by an established brand.

Children’s medical expenses are high, especially if they are treated at private clinics.

But taking children to the polyclinic is difficult due to the long waiting time, and I do not want my kids to suffer.

Polyclinics also do not operate at night every day, so there is hardly a choice sometimes.

We do not have a maid, and we also have to take care of my mother, aged 70.

Medical care for her is expensive, too, especially as she has no Central Provident Fund savings left.

In an environment where people are stressed due to money issues, can they change their attitudes, to love and care for others, if they have insufficient time to care for themselves?

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