Dear Editor,
I read with curiosity about The Independent Singapore’s lifestyle article: Choosing to have fur kids over human children: A growing preference among young couples (Aug 7).
In this decade, we have easily noticed a growing preference amongst young couples who choose to have fur kids over human children.
In fact, this growing trend has been overwhelmingly welcomed/accepted by many young couples in the Asia Pacific countries, such as Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Singapore.
Let us explore and walk into those pet lovers’ thoughts, mindsets, attitudes and lifestyles to discover why they are so passionate, interested and committed to their beloved pets.
Firstly, having fur kids such as pet dogs and cats as lifelong companions would bring happiness, a sense of security and satisfaction to the pet “parents”. This is almost the same feeling of couples who have human children.
Simultaneously, bearing heavy responsibility and expenses for keeping loved pets. These include a pet parent engaging dog training professionals to train his/her dog to unleash the dog’s potential to be a dependable, happy, well-behaved and well-balanced companion.
Similarly, a pet parent must bring his/her dog or cat to consult a vet when they fall sick. If a sickness gets worse, they need further medical treatments. All these require a pet parent’s big commitment and compassion.
These are almost the same responsibilities and experiences for a couple with human children.
However, the most significant difference is that fur kids will not lie or betray you, as they are loyal and honest to their parents. Their emotions, facial expressions and behaviours are unhidden or can be “foretold”, observed or predicted, although these fur kids might sometimes annoy their human mum and dad.
Still, these are unlike unteachable, indisciplined/unruly children who have been badly influenced by their peers or are affected by bad social influences due to a lack of parental guidance and supervision.
Hence, nowadays, our younger generation couples do not feel like rearing children; they prioritise career development and security. In short, they want more freedom, personal space, and the least attachment to responsibilities.
Undeniably, this trend has more or less contributed to our persistently low national birth rate.
Teo Kueh Liang
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of The Independent Singapore
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