Fatherhood, full-time: Why extra Singapore males are staying residence to care for his or her kids, Life-style Information

SINGAPORE – More fathers are stepping out of full-time work to take care of their kids amid a gradual rise in paternal involvement at residence.

The variety of stay-at-home dads outdoors the labour power has risen from about 1,900 in 2022 to three,000 in 2025, based mostly on knowledge from the Ministry of Manpower’s annual Labour Force in Singapore reviews.

They now make up 7.4 per cent of residents outdoors the labour power for childcare in 2025, up from 3.5 per cent in 2022.

Over the identical interval, the variety of stay-at-home mums fell from about 51,600 to 37,300.

While these figures exclude stay-at-home dad and mom who mix part-time work with caregiving, specialists say they mirror a broader rise in hands-on fatherhood in Singapore, pushed partly by the normalisation of versatile and hybrid work through the Covid-19 pandemic.

But they cautioned towards overstating the shift, noting that office norms stay much less supportive of fathers taking over bigger caregiving roles, and that moms are nonetheless the first caregivers in most households.

More elementary adjustments are wanted to maneuver in direction of a extra egalitarian society, they stated, with analysis displaying the advantages of upper paternal involvement.

Besides those that depart work for full-time caregiving, stay-at-home dads additionally embrace those that proceed working in numerous capacities, stated Centre for Fathering’s chief government Xander Ong.

While the non-profit organisation doesn’t monitor the variety of fathers who keep residence, it has noticed that extra are choosing work preparations that permit them to be extra current for his or her households, he stated.

They embrace these on part-time, freelance, or versatile preparations, in addition to a rising quantity working home-based companies.

Surveys performed by the Centre for Fathering amongst 669 fathers in 2024 and 801 in 2025 confirmed a better share of dads engaged in part-time work, self-employment or entrepreneurship. The determine rose from 14.5 per cent to 16.4 per cent over the 2 years.

The proportion of fathers who weren’t at present working – together with these in between jobs – additionally rose to five.4 per cent in 2025, up from 4.8 per cent in 2024.

What is widespread amongst these males is the will to be current for his or her kids in each the quantity and high quality of time, stated Dr Ong.

A neighborhood research revealed in June 2025 confirmed that kids had fewer behavioural issues and higher take a look at scores when their fathers took at the least two weeks of paternity depart.

The pandemic briefly made dad and mom’ childcare roles extra seen, serving to to make male caregiving extra acceptable each socially and in office settings, stated Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) senior analysis fellow, Dr Tan Poh Lin.

It additionally lowered psychological and sensible obstacles for fathers to tackle main caregiving – even when briefly – as versatile and hybrid work grew to become extra widespread, stated IPS senior analysis fellow, Dr Kalpana Vignehsa.

Pragmatism is one other issue, she stated.

“Dual-income couples are making decisions based on who earns more, whose job is more flexible and who can step back with less long-term penalty.”

At the identical time, extra individualistic norms imply {couples} are much less prone to be pushed by societal expectations and extra possible to decide on preparations that go well with their family, Dr Tan famous.

Many stay-at-home dad preparations are additionally transitional, stated Dr Vignehsa, with fathers entering into main care at particular life phases – early childhood, job transitions, or intervals of labour market disruption – earlier than returning to paid work.

With extra girls pursuing schooling and incomes extra, alongside the growth of versatile work, Dr Vignehsa expects the development of extra concerned fathers to proceed, although progressively and erratically.

Singapore society is open to transferring away from stereotypical gender roles, with surveys displaying robust settlement that fathers and moms are equally essential as caregivers, she stated.But observe nonetheless lags.

Mothers proceed to type the overwhelming majority of stay-at-home dad and mom, Dr Vignehsa stated, and plenty of working moms stay the “default parent”.

“For a comprehensive shift to more egalitarian norms, we would need to see more men taking sustained responsibility for care across the board,” she added.

And whereas extra males entering into main care indicators better flexibility, the truth that some should depart work solely reasonably than alter inside it means that workplaces are nonetheless restricted in accommodating caregiving tasks, stated Dr Vignehsa.

Fathers could face challenges re-entering the workforce and slower profession development, like moms who’ve stepped out.

Centre for Fathering’s Dr Ong stated higher help for households begins with work tradition – whether or not fathers really feel genuinely supported to take depart, alter schedules and be current at residence with out concern of judgment or profession penalties.

Rediscovering his masculinity

Being a stay-at-home dad had by no means been a part of Mr Abraham Yeo’s plans.

But when his first daughter was born in 2020, and his household unexpectedly needed to let go of their helper, the duty of caregiving fell to him.

He had left his profession in software program engineering a yr earlier than to give attention to working Homeless Hearts, a charity he had co-founded in 2014, from which he doesn’t draw a wage.

The couple determined it made extra sense for him to turn out to be the first caregiver, as his spouse was drawing an everyday earnings as a nurse.

Besides criticism from each his dad and mom and in-laws, Mr Yeo himself initially doubted his caregiving skills.

“It’s quite an intimidating feeling when you realise that the survival of the infant is dependent on you practically 24 hours,” the 44-year-old stated.

But over time, he has gained confidence, stated the daddy of two daughters aged 5 and one, and a three-year-old son.

While caregiving takes up most of his time, Mr Yeo stated persevering with some type of productive work is essential to him.

He spends as much as 4 hours day by day remotely overseeing the charity’s operations.

Joining The Ordinary Dad, a ground-up neighborhood for stay-at-home fathers to forge friendships, additionally helped him discover help from different males.

“The modern world often (leads us to) think that masculinity is all about muscular strength, competence and the ability to make money,” he stated. “It’s about endurance, perseverance, joy, courage, and learning to be humble and to serve out of your weakness.”

Mr Yeo’s household has additionally made life-style decisions to stay on a single earnings.

They depend on public transport, keep away from pointless debt and have solely the mortgage of their five-room HDB flat to repay.

Standing agency in his beliefs

In 2024, Mr Jionghan Ng stop his job as a rustic supervisor at an IT firm to spend extra time together with his kids.

“To give (the regular income) up, especially when you have two kids, and you’re not sure how much is needed for them, there was uncertainty,” he stated. His spouse, who works in advertising, can’t earn a living from home.

To preserve a sure high quality of life for his household, Mr Ng, 33, determined to arrange a tea enterprise and work remotely, whereas drawing on earnings from private investments.

The father of a five-year-old lady and a two-year-old boy has encountered disagreeable remarks on-line, the place he shares snippets of his life.

Brushing such remarks off, Mr Ng stated he feels safe in his function as his kids’s fundamental caregiver.

“If you don’t want to look down on stay-at-home moms, why would you want to look down on stay-at-home dads?”

Assuming the duty naturally

Mr Andrew Fam grew to become the first caregiver virtually instinctively as soon as his spouse’s maternity depart for his or her first youngster led to 2019.

Having labored remotely for a couple of software program engineering start-ups over the previous decade, the 39-year-old stated he wished his spouse to fulfil her profession aspirations as a college trainer.

He takes care of their seven-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter through the day till his spouse comes residence, after which he begins work.

Sustaining this association isn’t straightforward.

“It takes an inordinate amount of effort to find and negotiate jobs that are willing to support this kind of stay-at-home work,” he stated, noting that he turned down about 4 job presents in 2025 after unsuccessful negotiations over work preparations.

Despite the challenges of juggling work and caregiving, Mr Fam describes the previous seven years as a few of the greatest: “The highlight really is being able to spend time with the kids and watch them grow up.”

Joy that’s well worth the grind

Mr Ang Siang Shen began staying residence full-time when he determined to homeschool his daughter in September 2025.

The 40-year-old, who used to work in IT, studied early childhood improvement as a way to educate his three-year-old.

Each weekday begins with a self-designed curriculum that makes an attempt to duplicate that taught at pre-schools, together with sensory and cognitive workouts. This is adopted by actions resembling visits to the library, swimming pool, or parks.

Being a stay-home dad has allowed him to witness his daughter’s many firsts.

“Her first potty on her own, the first time she feeds herself properly… Every little achievement the child makes feels like your own,” he stated.

Going from twin to single earnings additionally meant chopping again on luxuries for Mr Ang, who used to get pleasure from recurrently consuming out and becoming a member of sporting occasions. His spouse works within the tourism trade.

Caregiving requires immense emotional regulation and a willingness to learn to do higher every day, he stated.

“It’s the 10 per cent joy that makes me continue with that 90 per cent grind.”

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This article was first revealed in The Straits Times. Permission required for replica.