4 of my 5 closest friends are now parents, then what?

In our early dating phase, my now-wife and I had a few chats about our ideal family size.

There were no heated debates, no drama — we were happy with just the two of us, and neither of us felt the urge to have kids.

We decided it would be very costly to raise children in Hong Kong, and that the education system and political situation offered little room for children’s growth.

Most important of all, we didn’t think we needed kids to complete our lives.

Our first wedding anniversary is in two months and we are very happily married with our childless lifestyle, but something feels different than the time we had our chat.

Since our first no-kids talk, three of my closest friends have had newborns. Last week, another friend and his wife welcomed a cute little boy to their family, together with a doula and a helper.

I have also not mentioned the number of my wife’s highschool friends who are now married with kids or pregnant. There are more than a handful of them.

The world is heaving with little humans.

Contrary to our open talk, these days, I feel that children are a topic that we deliberately avoid.