A HOME" AWAY FROM HOME : BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL CARE CENTRES (BASCS) AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SINGAPORE FAMILY"

Abstract

Traditionally, childcare has been the woman's domain. However, the advent of industrialisation has resulted in an increasing number of women participating in the labour force. Consequently, this trend has given rise to a significant number of dual-earner families in Singapore. The competing pulls of work and family have resulted in a gap in childcare for dual-earner families. This gap can be defined structurally (where the mother's employment restricts her from being physically present to take care of her children) and qualitatively (where the mother's employment limits the time spent between mother and child). In order to bridge this gap, dual-earner families have to seek alternative childcare arrangements that would both fit into the mothers' employment-schedules and facilitate greater mother-child bonding. One possible alternative childcare arrangement is the Before and After School Care Centre (BASC). This exploratory study therefore sets out to achieve two purposes: 1) to look at the implications of the BASCs for the dual-earner families and 2) to examine the viability of the BASCs as childcare arrangements for dual-earner families through these implications. My findings suggest that BASCs provide structural support by helping mothers to take care of their children during their employment hours. However, they are inadequate in providing qualitative support because they are unable to relieve the employed mothers' burden in their "second shift" at home.