"Shoeboxes" bad for marriage and child birth....?

There has been quite a bit of buzz around shoebox units in our local newspapers over the Easter weekend.

Both writers question the social implications of living in such "shoeboxes", especially when comes to promoting marriage and more importantly, having children.


References:
1. Limit number of shoebox units in private develoipment - The Straits Times, 7th Apr 2012
2. Bigger families? Not in shoebox flats - The Business Times, 7th Apr 2012

The wife and I are (you can probably tell by now) no fan of shoeboxes. But we reckon it will take much more than a bigger apartment to entice our younger generation to marry earlier and have more kids.

My wife's maternal grandparents have like 8 kids and everyone was living under the same roof of a less-than-1,000sqft, 3-bedrrom SIT flat in Tiong Bahru until all of them eventually got married and moved out.

While one can argue that THAT was a time when "policemen still wore shorts", what we really need is a fundamental change in mindset of our younger generations regarding marriage/having kids and better support structure for parents, which is more than what the current "Baby Bonus" or calls to regulate the size of  apartments can address.

Our humble opinion, as usual... Have a great week ahead!

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