A What Index?

When I read that the non-profit organization Centre for Fathering has come up with a "Better Fathering Index" aimed at benchmarking the father's involvement in bringing up children, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Now I decided I have to laugh about it.

You see, it seems that The Index will be the first in the world first, and will be ready after a comprehensive survey of dads in Singapore. Chairman of Centre for Fathering and National Family Council Lim Soon Hock have even publicly said that “there must be a set of criteria to produce this index”.

I have to laugh because I cannot begin to comprehend how in the world does one quantify the “goodness” of a father? Seriously, I know in Singapore we love to put numbers and set criteria on everything but a “Better Fathering Index”?

What? Are fathers supposed to measure how much time they spent with their kids and have a report card for it? That is just stupid! There’re no report cards or numbers in love. You can’t put a number on the love a parent has for their children. I’m not a father and even I know that.

You know why The Index will be the first in the world first? Because no one else in the world is stupid enough to try it before! A “Better Fathering Index”? What’s next? A “Better Mothering Index”? A "Better Grandparent Index"? It is so ridiculous I just have to laugh about it.