A Happy Family

In today's Forum, one parent wrote: "Don't put children on the balance sheet". He has 2 girls aged 3 and 2. Like many other Singaporeans, he and his wife have to juggle between work and taking care of the girls. Though life is tough, he has never allowed this to be a deterrent factor to consider having another kid. To label children as either assets or liabilites, he thinks is morally wrong. Why should parents see their children as some kind of investment with tangible returns? How could some parents also label children as liabilities who drain their resources, energy and spirit? Are we human or just items that could be written off, just like bad investments? In conclusion, he said that something would be very wrong with our society if parents and people start to put children on the balance sheet.

I fully agree with this parent. Children are blessings and not assets nor liabilities. When I got married in 1981, I already told myself I would have as many children as I could within the 1st 10 years of my marriage. By 1989, I had my 3rd child. Then, in 1991, I asked my husband if we should have one more. He said to wait till he is rich. I told him I will be too old by then. Any way, we tried and our youngest darling was borne in Sep 1991.

My eldest girl was borne in 1984, year of the RAT. My son is a TIGER, borne in 1986. No. 3 is a DRAGON girl. Youngest darling is GOAT. Tigers are classified under the cat family. So we have a cat chasing the mouse. Then Dragon and Tiger fight. Luckily, the goat is the amicable one and brings everybody in harmony. True to the horoscope, each of my children is different and they really add joy to our family life.

In my 22 years as a parent, I learnt a lot from my children and I am still learning . . .