High living cost and small living space are problems Hong Kongers cannot evade nowadays. They are why some married couples only plan to have one or two children, worried that it would be difficult to handle too many children. Even for couples who have decided not to have children and keep only pets, they also limit the number of pets to one or two due to the amount of time needed for taking care of them and limited space. Still, there are people who are not deterred by the pressure in life and crave a family with a number of children today.
Kannes married Edmond soon after graduation. Both coming from a large family, they were not particularly concerned about financial or housing issues by then when considering having children. They believed that they should have as many children as possible before turning 30. The couple has four children now. They live together with Edmond’s parents, who also stay in Mainland China sometimes, making them an eight-person household. Speaking of nurturing four children, Kannes thinks that the biggest difficulty lies in how she allocates time and love for each of them appropriately. Rather than spending a lot of time and money on interest classes, she believes in helping her children build a good relationship among siblings, which lasts for a lifetime.
In contrast, Irene and Arrick had a consensus on not having children long ago. The married couple intended to live a quiet life with their two cats. Yet, they came across stray dogs Coffee and Yuanyang by chance. They later realised that there were many stray cats and dogs that needed help in the city, and that was why they also became adopters. Currently the couple has eight pets, which makes their family life boisterous and busy. Even though taking care of these eight “children” is demanding, Irene and Arrick still insist on volunteering at an organisation for stray cats and dogs in their free time, hoping to find a home for each “furbaby”.
Regardless of the type of family, a
