[pinghao] To what extent is Singapore a family-friendly society?

Singapore can be considered a famliy-friendly society to some extent as our government encourages family bonding within a society. This is because the family is the basic unit of our society, and the Singaporean government recognises the importance of a healthy family bond between its citizens. The Singaporean government thus tries to encourage family bonding through policies and activities. For example, the 5-day work week policy was implemented so that parents would be able to go home to be with their children during the weekends. This extra time spent with the family would be able to help facilitate greater understanding within the family and allow them to bond. However, even though the government can be seen trying to come up with measures to create a family-friendly society, it would cease to work without the compliance of the family members themselves. For example, even if the working parents of a certain family were given weekends off to rest and bond with their family, these parents may be workaholics and choose to bring their work home to continue instead. Their children may have school activities like co-ciricular activities (CCA) on a Saturday as well, or tuition and other activities that bar them from returning home to their families. Parents may also choose to go out with their friends to catch up, or with each other on dates, leaving their children behind. The 2 free days given on weekends would thus become days for the members of the family to escape school and work to relax individually, and purpose of using this time to spend with their family is not reached. What the government is able to do to facilitate family bonding is thus limited by the actions of the family members. Thus, Singapore cannot be considered a completely family-friendly society as it tries to create chances for building a family-friendly society, but some of these chances are forfeited.