Job woes?

Recently we heard stories of how bosses discriminate mothers all because they need to balance their priorities between family and work.

Sometimes, in our culture, it's not easy to bring forward the idea that mothers are performing equally as well as non-parents or even those young with no family.

However, sad to say, this is always the impression. Once you have your family and your priorities shifted, that is the end of your career life.

In reality, mothers are the most adaptable human actually. Look at her, how she can manage without enough sleep, how she can still look after the house, how she can still work and perform. Don't you agree!

Do not pity those mothers who are being discriminated by their bosses. In fact, in the many years to come, she will harvest the seeds of her effort... choosing her family before work. Kids can have the love and attention and when they grow up, they will know for sure, their mothers are alongside with them for their babyhood, childhood and more. The ones who need to pity are the children of the bosses. They choose work over them. No doubt they need to earn a living too but their mentality is wrong in enforcing their own values upon others. When the child grows up, how will they feel?

Needless to say, balance your life and work. I put life first because it's more important; if it does not make sense, at least it is to me.

With reference to this issue, do take a look at our previous blog about maternity rights to understand more on your rights as a mother.

Ciao!

Remember to claim your Parenthood Tax rebate and child reliefs

Every April of the year, we need to make sure we file our income tax. While some are notified that they are not required to do so, it is still a good habit to check that all the figures filed are correct. And especially so for parents if you have add on little ones into your family. Congratulations. =)

Do check that you have made your claims for the following reliefs: child relief, grandparent caregiver relief, working mother child relief and forgeting your Parenthood Tax Rebate.

"Extraction from IRAS"
Parenthood Tax Rebate' (PTR) is a rebate given to married Singapore tax residents to encourage them to have more children. PTR can be used to offset your income tax payable. This rebate may be shared with your spouse.

How much you can claim
From YA 2009 onwards, the PTR has been extended to include 1st child, 5th child and subsequent children.

1st child - $5,000
2nd child - $10,000
3rd child - $20,000
4th child - $20,000
5th child and beyond - $20,000 per child

For more info and details on Parenthood Tax Rebate, here's the link:
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04.aspx?id=1528

Other links:

Child Relief:
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04_ektid214.aspx

Working Mother Child Relief:
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04.aspx?id=220

Grandparent Caregiver Relief:
http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page04_ektid204.aspx

Just remember to do the above by 18 Apr 2012 if you are filing online. =)

My daughter speaks better than Me =p

Recently, I found out that my three-year old girl speaks better English than I have been. This credit belongs to her childcare teacher for teaching the correct pronunciation.

I recalled how this foreign language was taught to me in my school days. During my era which is in the 1980s when I was still in my primary school; English is not the main language most families speak at home. A lot of students at that time struggle real hard with it. In order to pass my English paper for PSLE, I went to British Council for a 5 days course to brush it up. Instead of getting better, I screwed up the whole thing and got a real bad grade for my English. The reason? British Council actually teaches the fundamentals of the grammar and etc and somehow my school did not touch on it; I got really confused.

And at British Council, I realised that we have not been pronouncing the words correctly all along too. We never pronounce the ‘th’ in three and keep saying it the way it sounds like tree but we don’t mean a tree. We also were not taught to pronounce the ‘k’, ‘n’ and etc at the back of the word. For example; ‘pink’, we always say it as ‘pin’. I suddenly realised why the teachers of that time are not teaching us the right English pronunciation or simply, they do not know about these too.

Till now, I am still putting a great amount of effort to make sure my English improves but somehow, it hard.

Foundation is very important in languages. Once you know the fundamentals, you can survive gracefully with it. For children, they can pick up a language so easily. My daughter who often watch Dora The Explorer actually do pick up espanol. While I was teaching her to count, she suddenly stop at four and start once more but in Spanish going; uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, and etc.

Here, I urge parents to start paying attention to how your kids speak English; ensuring that not only they speak good English but also pronounce it the correct way; not ‘half past six’ like us. As it is easier to build it now at a young age, don’t wait.

To ensure we speak properly, there’s this Speak Good English Movement. Why not go to their website and have a go at the tests. It’s kind of fun.

Website: http://www.goodenglish.org.sg/