Singapore is a good place for kids ...
But it seems to lack the ‘soul’ of other lands
Letter from Lucia Maes, Today Online 10 Oct 08;
IT WAS interesting to read in your report “Here today, gone tomorrow” (Oct 9), that not many children of expatriates may want to settle down in Singapore.
The Republic is no doubt a safe and well-developed country, with the most reliable infrastructure I have come across. It has scored well in terms of lower costs of bringing up children, high academic achievements and so on.
But, in my opinion, there is something cold and disconnected about the way children are raised: I don’t think it is nurturing to the “soulfulness” of the child and the natural instincts humans have been endowed with.
Children in some of the other landsI have lived in spend their childhood playing in forests and getting their hands dirty finding ways and means to build their own toys, which certainly improves their creativity and problem-solving skills.
By contrast, I can’t believe my eyes when I see Singaporean parents prying their children away from trees because they are “dirty”, nor can I believe my ears when I hear that children in Singapore have to be “taught” creativity in schools.
Is it true that they no longer venture out to learn and discover things on their own?
Perhaps this may explain why expatriates are unsure if their children should remain here.
It is an established fact that children who experience a healthy childhood of self-discovery and close contact with nature grow up with a good dose of self-confidence, as well as high IQ and EQ.
The need is, really, to teach our children not to regard material needs as the foundation of one’s identity and instead, learn to believe in doing the best that they can in whatever fields they are interested in, without a care of societal expectations.
