Large Families in Singapore No tuition or travel, but ‘we have all we need’

The Govt is giving families with three or more kids greater financial support

- Shermaine Ang

The four Ong children, aged three, five, eight and 10, do not go for tuition, travel or shop for clothes or toys – hand-me-downs from neighbours serve them just fine.

They share bedrooms and have their meals in their five-room flat. Weekends are spent at the parks, having picnics and playing Frisbee.

This simple lifestyle makes the family’s single income go a longer way.

The father of the four children, Mr James Ong, 42, had heard from older relatives and friends that they wished they had spent more time with their families.

And so, while others in their 30s chased their careers, he made the decision to put his family first and support them with his paid work as a self-employed life coach.

His wife, 41-year-old Quek See Leng, who had been engaged in youth work before she had her eight-year-old, said people spend a lot of time and energy making sure they have enough to meet the high costs of living here.

“In time to come, we realise that actually we are serving money. We’ve always felt that money must serve us. We cannot serve money. So we must first know what we really want.”

For the couple, this is inculcating in their children values such as resilience, curiosity and caring for others – helping those who are struggling in class or befriending an unpopular classmate, for instance.

Ms Quek said that while she and her husband felt exhausted with three children, they wanted to give their youngest a playmate to grow up with.

Large families like hers are in the minority, with just 18 per cent of women here having three or more children in 2024, close to half of the 33.5 per cent in 2004.

The latest Department of Statistics data shows that women who at the end of their child-bearing years have two children made up the largest group at 41.8 per cent in 2024.