SINGAPORE - You catch an occasional glimpse of these kids on their celebrity parents' social media accounts. Before you know it, they have gone from moppets to strapping young adults. Who feels old now?
Anita Yuen and Julian Cheung
Anita Yuen's son is taller than her, already?
This was what some thought after the Hong Kong actress recently uploaded two pictures of her only child Morton (right). Last month, she shared a photo of him going to school. In July, she posted a snapshot of the family - her actor-husband Julian Cheung included - taking a stroll by the beach.
Netizens noted that 13-year-old Morton has had quite a growth spurt since the previous photo Yuen posted of him last year, commenting how long his limbs are.
As Morton enters his teenage years, his celebrity parents, both 49, have taken to posting photos of only his back view, understandably for privacy reasons.
Yuen is believed to be 1.7m tall. Will Morton soon become even taller than his 1.8m-tall dad?
Pan Lingling and Huang Shinan
Talk about being taller than one's parents. The second son of celebrity couple Pan Lingling, 50, and Huang Shinan, 59, towers over them at 1.88m.
Huang, who is 1.82m tall, remembers that Kynaston, was 14 when they were of the same height. "By the end of Secondary 2, he had already overtaken me," he recalls with a laugh.
Kynaston, now 18, is a junior college student while his older brother Beckham, 21, is an officer cadet in the Republic of Singapore Air Force. The latter, if you are curious, is 1.78m tall.
Huang tells The Straits Times that he and his actress-wife allow both sons to make their own decisions after they turned 16. "I think that's a good age to let them be independent and accountable for their actions. I'd tell them, 'We're always here to share our advice and guidance, but we'd respect your final decisions.'"
The couple also respect their sons' privacy and have been adamant about not sharing pictures of their faces on social media.
Christy Chung
Like mother, like daughter. Former actress Christy Chung's eldest child Yasmine Ross, 22, is quite a stunner with her sweet, doe-eyed face, as seen from the pictures Chung has posted on her social media accounts over the years.
But it was only in August when Ross uploaded some casually taken bikini photos that netizens realised that she has her mum's killer bod too.
Chung, 50, who is of Chinese and Vietnamese parentage, is best known for her on-screen sex siren persona. She gave birth to her first daughter in Montreal after marrying British businessman Glen Ross. The four-year relationship ended in 2002.
On her Instagram account, Yasmine Ross wrote recently that she grew up in Beijing and studied film production at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Ross has two step-sisters, Jaden, 12, and Cayla, 10, from Chung's second marriage to Taiwanese music producer Jon Yen.
The couple tied the knot in 2003 and divorced in 2011. Chung was reportedly trying to have a child with Chinese actor-singer Shawn Zhang, 38, whom she married in 2016.
Ivy Lee
Former actress Ivy Lee's firstborn Mikki turns 23 years old this month. Even her twin sons Nik and Dash look all grown up at 15.
The three-time Star Awards Best Actress winner gave up stardom after marriage and relocated in 2009 to Hong Kong where her director-husband Raymond Choy was based.
The couple has another 11-year-old daughter, Leah.
The family is said to be residing in England since 2017, but as Lee, 47, wrote in an Instagram post on National Day: "No matter where we are, Singapore is always home in our hearts."
Wong Lilin and Allan Wu
"Time has indeed flown by faster than I could've imagined," TV host Allan Wu gushed in an Instagram post. His firstborn Sage celebrated her sweet 16th birthday last month and proud daddy was having all the feels, writing: "It still feels like yesterday when I beamed with love as I cradled your tiny self like a football sixteen years ago."
Mummy Wong Lilin, a former actress who parted ways with Wu in 2013, also took to Instagram to wish her daughter a happy birthday. "At the cusp of so many discoveries! Be gentle with yourself and the world. Happy sweet 16 beautiful S (sic)," she wrote.
The former couple, both 48, have a 14-year-old son, Jonas.
Suhaimi Yusof
Local actor Suhaimi Yusof makes sure that he continues to be "the No.1 influencer" in his family even though his children have grown up. They are Amirul, 25, Nurjannah, 24, and Sufi, 20.
"I'm constantly competing with the rest of the social media enthusiasts with their views of life. But I'm certainly not in favour of negative influences that will end up changing the person I have groomed over the years," the 51-year-old tells The Sunday Times.
The top parenting challenge is to keep up with the communication style and mode, he says. "When I was growing up, my parents used to have a simpler way of sending a message when I crossed the line: Pack your stuff, come home for dinner and listen to us. That's it. Their way or the highway." Things are different now.
He adds: "Kids are staying indoors, but mixing around with the whole world. As a parent, I have to upgrade my strategy in winning the influence over my kids' minds." That means he has to be creative in coming up with ideas for family time. "I have established our own weekly 'non-electronic family meetings' in which we chat without any mobile devices for half a day. And we make time for it."
Diana Ser
Diana Ser feels like she is making new friends as her three kids grow into their adolescent years. "Except they're more judgmental," she tells The Sunday Times. The 48-year-old local television presenter is married to former actor James Lye, 51.
"They roll their eyes and try to get me to understand social media slang. I still don't type 'kewl' when I mean 'cool', but I understand that young people need to rebel even when it comes to language use. They also try to influence my use of emojis".
Ser spends more one-on-one time now with Jake, 14, Christy, 12, and Jaymee, nine.
The mother of three says: "The challenge is to see things from their point of view because I tend to have this attitude that 'mummy knows best'. But there have been times when they surprise me with their perspectives."
Her firstborn is taller than her now, though she jests: "I am five foot nothing, so not a gargantuan task to overtake me." He is also turning out to be quite the gentleman. Ser says: "It warms the cockles of my heart when he insists on carrying the heavier grocery bags."
Correction note: An earlier version of this story said Wong Lilin parted ways with Allan Wu in 2003. It should be 2013. We are sorry for the error.
