GETTING married and having kids was something people used to just do naturally, without thinking about what incentives came with it.

Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong yesterday lamented the changed attitude that some Singaporeans now have towards having children, as he joined the growing chorus of leaders calling for more babies.

The topic of babies - or rather the lack of them - has been hitting the headlines frequently of late and it is expected to be a key topic of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech.

In making his pitch, Mr Gan said that though raising children was tough, it was well worth the effort. Ask anyone with children, he said, and very few would say they regretted having had children.

"Before you have them, you always think 'Maybe it's going to be a problem'. When you have them and trouble comes, you think, 'Aiyah, why did I do this'. But when...you look back, I think we are all very happy with having children," he said to a question from housewife Grace Chong at a dialogue with Sembawang residents after a tour of the estate.

Mr Gan, who has two daughters, said stress was one of the reasons many young couples cited for not having children. But he said that work pressure needed to be better managed.

"Stress is part of life. It's very difficult to have no stress at all, unless you live in the mountain," he said. Mr Gan offered one suggestion to manage stress: share it with a partner.

He held up his host, Sembawang GRC MP Lim Wee Kiak, as an example. "Today, during the community visit, it's a very stressful event, right" But Dr Lim has his wife with him. And so this is, I think, Dr Lim's secret of managing stress."

During the hour-long session, over 100 students and residents lobbed a wide range of questions, including how the Government was encouraging women to get back to work and how to prevent local talent from leaving Singapore.

They did not ask questions about the economy or rising cost of living, but Dr Lim raised it at the end, saying he was surprised that no one had beaten him to it. Mr Gan reiterated sentiments expressed by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam a day earlier - though dark clouds were looming, the country was starting from a strong position.

While Mr Gan was optimistic that Singapore would ride out the problems that came up, he also had advice for workers. He urged them to keep training and gaining skills that would help them improve their position should difficult times hit.

The dialogue came at the end of a hectic morning for all, as Mr Gan embarked on his first ministerial visit since becoming Acting Minister in April this year. Apart from meeting residents, he joined a National Day observance ceremony, launched a book featuring recipes from local residents and officially opened the new Jelutung Community Club.

jeremyau@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in The Straits Times on August 9, 2008.