Mdm Lee Sui Yi wrote in ST (20 Aug) expressing her disappointment with the Government ignoring stay-home mothers ("Mistake to ignore stay-home mothers").  She raised very salient points when she said:

(1) "Stay-home mums willingly give up their financial independence and put their aspirations on hold because they believe that it is worth it.....Doesn't that make them the perfect candidates to have more babies?  And surely, they need less persuading".

(2) "Stay-home mums are not asking for handouts, just equality.  Give our husbands (the sole breadwinner in our household) the tax incentives you (the Govt) are dishing out to working mums".

(3) "Stay-hime mums are neither quitters nor parasites.  They play an important role at home and are often active community volunteers".

Amongst the replies to Mdm Lee include the following:

(1) "I fully agree with Mdm Lee.  I too felt extremely disappointed with the Govt for leaving the stay home-mums out of its baby plan.....A baby is a baby, whether it's from a working mum or not" - MDM TAN LAY HOON (ST, 22 Aug).

(2) "Working mum's salue to stay-home mums (her friends).....for their unlimited devotion to their families.  Their children have grown up to be well-adjusted, confident individuals with good values.....These are women who are also more likely to volunteer for charity and community work and, as I see it, their kids would be exposed to such activities and could then become more compasionnate, gracious human beings.....Delinquent children who run amok because mum and dad are not around, and are supervised by maids, will bring another set of societal problems" - MDM JO-ANNE LEE (ST, 22 Aug)

Do you agree with these stay-home mums?  Are you also disappointed with the lack of incentives for stay-home mums and their families?  Do you feel discriminated by the Govt favoring working mums and ignoring stay-home mums?  Please share your views.

My wife and I are blessed with 3 lovely sons (14, 12 & 10 yrs old), much higher than the national average of 1.2.  When our 3rd son was born, we made conscious decision not to raise our children with predominantly maid care in most of the day, hence my wife stopped working and be a full-time home maker.  She did not even exhaust her enhanced child tax reliefs.  Despite the loss of dual income (hence lesser savings), we never regret our decision.  Having known the challenges and hardship of more children and bigger family-size, we welcome PM Lee's announcements on helps from the Govt to encourage more babies and to help the parents to cope (more leaves, tax incentives, better child care facilities, etc, etc).  For many years, we have been waiting for the Govt to introduce incentives to home-makers who sacrifice for their children and families.  Just like Mdm Lee Sui Yi et al, we do feel that stay-home mums are the "forgotten class".

What say you?