SMU Dean of Students and Professor of Sociology (Practice) Paulin Straughan believes that Asian societies ought to steer the conversation on parenthood by embracing ageing as a positive, noting that many are still productive after they turn 65. One sustainable solution, she said, was to tap the single elderly as caregivers for young children. “The assumption is that if we just nag hard enough, if we have enough carrots out there, the fertility will bounce back up,” she told The Straits Times. “But if you look at modernisation and development trends, I don’t think that’s going to happen because fundamentally our expectations of marriage and having children and, therefore, parenting have changed.”