"Something was off at preschool pickup. I had been living in Singapore for a month, and every day, I was the only mother waiting outside the school for her kids. Instead, the parking lot was filled with silver-haired grandparents who had arrived promptly to retrieve children and ferry them home or to extracurricular activities. These grandparents, I eventually learned, weren't doing this merely out of love for their grandkids. Many of them were also being paid."
"That stipend is not always a child-care-specific paycheck; it can help cover bills, groceries, and other needs. But the allowance does recognize a fact of family life that tends to go unacknowledged in the United States: that the contributions of older people are essential labor that deserves to be remunerated. As Irene Hee, a Singaporean grandmother of three-whose daughter pays her a stipend and covers some of her expenses-told me of her caregiving duties: "It's my job.""
Grandparents provide primary childcare for a large share of young children in Singapore, with at least 50 percent of children cared for by grandparents by 18 months and one-third of three-year-olds. The arrangement reflects a culture of filial piety and intergenerational support where older adults care for children and are later cared for by those children. Many adult children pay their parents a regular allowance that can cover bills, groceries, and other needs. The allowance recognizes older adults' caregiving as essential labor deserving remuneration. Grandparent caregivers offer affordable, reliable, and flexible care that supports working parents and broader social functioning.
Read at The Atlantic
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