This trip to Singapore seems to be quite different from the past. It seems to be "kids-centric", and revolved around meeting up with friends and their children. Feels like we have been pretty far behind some of our friends with 3 and 4 kids. But we really had no regrets waiting as we are at a far better location and mind-set now than we were 10 years ago. Yes, it's funny that we were amongst the first to get married but we have just started in our journey with Kay. So we do have a lot to learn from many of these 3-times parents. I often wonder how they do it with more than one. We are doing ok but would be struggling if we had another. Again it made us realize how important it is to have immediate family around when we have kids and being faraway in Canada didn't really make it easier. The culture in Singapore endorses and embraces the employment of a live-in helper, especially for families with kids. It seems like a norm and people squint when we tell them that we don't have a "maid" at home. That term seems to used less and less in the current context but that is essentially what they were treated as. For us, we never could get use to the idea of having a stranger live-in our house with us and taking care of our kids. So that's not an option. But it was nice catching up with everyone....and their little ones.
We went to the places like the Jacob Belles Children's garden at the Singapore Botanical Gardens, somewhere we would have never considered visiting if we didn't have a kid. It was nice even though it was extremely hot. It was the second generation of my architecture mates meeting up for the first time. There were 7 kids altogether that day, ranging from 6 months old to 6 years old, all playing bubbles and just running around, while the adults chomped down on local fare. It was a nice picnic. Thanks for organizing it, Gyn.
And here is the list of friends with 3 or more kids...just as a reminder to myself for future reference:
Karen & Steven Bay-with Benjamin(4), Bridgitte(3) and Ignitius (3 months)
Trish & Glen Lim - with Ethan (6), Elliot (5) and Trinity Ming (3)
KahHan & Winnie Liaw- with Timothy(7), Elizabeth(4) and Dominic (1.5)
Thanks everyone for sharing family moments with us.
