More couples in Singapore are stopping at one child – what does this mean for families and society at large?

Bogdan Hofbauer

As family units become smaller, Singapore will have to prepare for a future that may rely more on what experts call "fictive kinship" and external help, instead of one's own offspring for caregiving needs. Whenever Ms Christel Goh's daughter was asked if she wanted a sibling, the six-year-old's answer would always be an unequivocal "no". Ms Goh, 34, who owns her own communications agency, said: "To her, it's like, 'If mama has one more child, how is she going to carry both of us?' She cannot