'The family has suffered at the expense of career in Singapore society.' Is this a fair comment?

1. Point 1: Less family interaction due to inadequate time spent together.

1.1. Working parents spend less time with their children due to the work commitment they have as they are often out at work instead of staying at home to accompany their children.

1.2. For example, most families in our modern era have two working parents. In the past it was not much of a problem when one parent went to work and be the sole breadwinner while the other stay home and look after the children. As a result of the current situation, children are most often left alone at home or under the care of maids.

1.3. Over time, this widens the social gap between parents and children as the children feel deprived of the care and concern from their parents

1.4. Although the government implemented the five-day work week policy, but this policy only reached out to the civil servants and is not fully applicable to those working in the private sectors. As a result, parents working in the private sector may have to work on weekends as well, hence further losing the little time they already had to interact with their children, and also further depriving them of the care and concern.

2. Introduction: The family has suffered at the expense of career in Singapore society. When parents are too absorbed in their jobs, they often neglect their children and deprive the family of their care and concern. Furthermore, this also results in a strained relationship between parents and children. Less interaction time together as a family, absence of a role model in the family and lack of emotional support are all contributing factors of the family suffering at the expense of work. Although parents are able to generate more income for the family by spending a longer time at work but they have not showed care and concern to their children. Hence, I agree to a large extent that "family has suffered at the expense of career in Singapore society" is a fair comment.

3. point4: [counter argument] the success in career guarantees the supply of material comforts for family.

3.1. 1. families with adequate income are able to enjoy more leisure activities such as travelling which provides an opportunity for the family members to spend quality time together. In this way, family members can distress and relax after hectic work and study. In addition, parents can take their time to talk to their children to get to know their school life a lot better. This way, it helps to show additional care and concern for their children.

3.2. 2. working adults in families are responsible to provide their family members with conducive living condition and basic necessities in life such as food, clothes, transportation and housing. this can be seen as commitment and care for the family. The salary from jobs, a main resource of income, enables people to fulfill their responsibilities.

4. Point 2: Absence of role models in the family

4.1. When the parents are too focused and occupied with their jobs, there will be less time spent on taking care of their children. In turn, this increases the chances of their children going astray.

4.2. Since there is no one is present to educate the children, the freedom that the child has might cultivate the wrong moral values. They will not even be able to differentiate right from wrong. When there is no one at home to observe the behaviour of the children. If the parents are not even there to set a good example and correct their children's mistakes, they will continue with their errant behaviour. In fact, it may also be indirectly encouraging the adolescent behavior to continue.

4.3. For example, statistics have shown that 53% of juvenile delinquents in Singapore came from family backgrounds whereby they have been constantly neglected by their parents.

4.4. Therefore, actions speaks louder than words. If the parents are not there to present themselves properly to their children and show their care and concern, their children might continue to go down the wrong path.

5. Point 3: Children may be lacking in moral development and support without care and concern from their parents

5.1. Parent performs an important key role in forming the attitudes and life lessons that their child will take away with them as they enter society bacause at any young stage of life, morality is build on love. A warm and caring parent-child relationship is positively associated with children's moral development because parents are there to support and encourage. Similarly, the absence of parents in childhood predicts troubled development for children.

5.2. For instance Magid and McKelvey, in their book High Risk: Children Without a Conscience (1987), conclude that the main cause of anti-social and violent behavior is a child's lack of a secure attachment in infancy and the resulting failure to develop a conscience.

5.3. Therefore, a parent's love and attention is crucial for character building because love builds a bond between parents and child. That is the reason why most people are influenced by those persons they are emotionally connected to. However, parents often shower their children with tangible goods to compensate them for the time that they have lost as a family which is insufficient to make up for the bonding time that they would have shared as a family.

5.4. Parents are our best teachers. thus, a myriad of values are best instilled through them. Parents play an important role in their children's development, their role is an irreplaceable one but when they are absent, their children may feel helpless about the situation. In conclusion, without the love that could be felt through the care and concern from parents toward a child, they may lack important values.

6. Point 5 [Counter-counter argument]: Career may only guarantee the material enjoyment for families. however, with parents too absorbed in their jobs, children do not have a chance to communicate with their parents and share their thoughts. Over time, this results in lack of understanding and care among family members as they are not able to know each other's difficulty, thus unable to provide mental support for them. less sharing of daily experience among family members may also lead to loss of common topics for communication in family. Therefore, the loss of bonds and interaction outweighs the benefit of the material comforts.

7. Conclusion: In conclusion, less family interaction, the absence of a role model in the family and the lack of emotional support all led to strained relationships between family members and children feeling deprived of care and concern. Therefore it is a fair comment to state that due to the excessive focus on work and jobs, it has caused a detrimental impact on families.