Suddenly the song of U2 came haunting at me……”So Close & Yet So Far Away“…., after hearing the 1 PM News Brief on Channel 8….*sigh*…My heart sank….
Early this morning…two persons still told me…wow…u r so lucky….u will enjoy…4mths of maternity leave……n blah blah blah…..yah…and that was before the Government announced when the bb bonus will take effect….and I was like … keeping my fingers and heart crossed…reeeaaaalllll…tight….ever since I heard about it….in the hope that we will benefit from it….! Hoping that the bb bonus thingy will take effect from 1st Oct 2008.
Hah! Yah right… lucky my foot ah….I was so right…man…I knew I will never be so lucky…lor…i still told these two person…nah…I won’t be so lucky…cos I knew..the bonus thingy will only kick in after I have given birth…..and my gut feelings is half rite….for now….
Why half rite?….well….we still got a 50-50 chance of enjoying the bonus….and it all depends …when is Lil’ One arriving…although the EDD is like 3rd Jan 2009…and yah…most of u all will think …sure…can get the bonus one lah….but past records has shown that usually bb boys will arrive earlier than the expected date. Ok brushing aside the past records thingy….so..and ….again…my stupid gut feeling….is that Lil’ One will arrive sometime…in late Dec…just a few days before 1st Jan….wah biangz…aye…dat will be SUPER DUPER AI WAN….man…! Argggghhhh….the thoughts of it really drives me crazy….what if…my gut feeling really came true..??????!!!!!!! Should I cry or what….? It’s a mixed feelings….but what can I do…? I can bring him into this world earlier but not later rite….*sigh*…
Why am I feeling so frustrated…??? Well….mind u it is a lot of difference ok…..and if my gut feeling came true….it would be such a waste…..man…my dear bb has just missed the boat…And here is an extract from Channelnewsasia.com:
“SINGAPORE: More tax breaks, cash payouts and parental leave will be given to encourage Singaporeans to heed the stork.
They are among a broad range of measures to be delivered from 1 January 2009, in the hope of boosting the Republic’s flagging birth rate – one of the lowest among developed countries.
The government is allocating S$600 million to improve existing tax benefits.
For families with two or more children, they will get 50 to 100 per cent reduction in taxes they pay for the first 10 years of the child’s life.
Parents can also spend more time with their kids as paid maternity leave will be extended from 12 to 16 weeks.
And each parent will be entitled to six days of paid childcare leave a year and up to six days of unpaid infant care leave.
To help defray the cost of raising children, S$400 million will be set aside for the Baby Bonus scheme, including a cash gift of S$4000 for the first and second child.
Childcare and infant care subsidies will also almost double. “
Source : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/print/369936/1/.html
I just pray that miracle will happen…am I asking too much?
