Eric Chan - Product Manager
“Strong marriage leads to a strong family. It’s like how we see strong leaders lead to a strong company!”
Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
I'm a dad of two boys, who are growing so fast that is hard to keep up. Married to a palliative nurse whom I have known since I was 13 years old, I'm always impressed by her passion for healthcare, and helping the sick.
On a professional front, I am a Product Manager at Grab, Southeast Asia's leading SuperApp. Prior to Grab, I was at PropertyGuru, making an impact in the proptech space.
During my free time, I run my passion project, Your Grit Story Podcast to learn and share the journeys of founders, leaders, and change-makers. On top of that, I mentor product folks via ADPList.
How old are your kid(s)?
My two boys are 3 and 6 years old.
Who is the primary caregiver in the household, and what are you and your partner’s parenting philosophy?
During the weekdays, the primary caregiver is my mother-in-law. When it comes to weekends, it will be my partner and me.
Our parenting philosophy has always been:
Be Present - This is one of the reasons we agreed not to have a domestic helper so at least we don't over-rely on a ready external resource. Instead, our kids are either with their grandparents or parents, so we can be present with them.
Work/Learn hard, Play/Enjoy hard - We inculcate values in them such that adults have to work hard and kids have to learn hard together during the weekdays, so we as a family can play and enjoy hard during the weekends!
Spend quality time together - We spend alot of time outdoors with the kids during the weekends at the park or beach to create memories with them and spend quality time together. We believe in enjoying delicious meals outside as a family instead of cracking our brains on what to cook and filling our sinks with dishes to wash at nights.
What's your favourite moment in the day with your kid(s)?
I normally pick them up from pre-school. It's just simply a joy to see them walk out of school with their bags with their big smiles and of course a BIG hug!
How do you keep yourself sane?
As the kids are more than 3 year old now, my wife and I take turns in the evenings to meet our friends for dinner and drinks. Taking a break without the kids to have these laughter and catchups help me keep sane as a parent.
Meeting other like-minded parents help us keep sane as well, knowing that we are not alone facing these parenting challenges ourselves.
Best tech tip on parenting. This can be apps / hardware / gear you use, and how you use them.
Air Fryer. My wife uses it as it's super convenient to air-fry quick bites for the kids and it's not as oily as frying with a pan.
Most helpful advice you've received as a parent.
I ran a #Parenting series on my podcast a few months back, when I spoke to Bryan Tan, the CEO of Centre for Fathering and Dads for Life in one of the episodes. And he said, "Protect your time with your marriage and family".
In the busyness of life, it's tempting to prioritize many "urgent" and "important" things over marriage and family. But we need to remember we can't get our time, so we need to PROTECT our time with our marriage and family.
Also, marriage is a very important part of the equation. Strong marriage leads to a strong family. It’s like how we see strong leaders lead to a strong company!
What lessons do you not want your kid(s) to learn?
Being dishonest - Honesty is such an important characteristic we are always trying to teach, given that we are seeing signs of lying in our 6-year-old (I guess this is part and parcel of growing up!)
Being proud - Humility is something very close to my heart and we inculcate this value in our kids such that they need to be humble as we all have to keep learning and nobody knows everything.
Being selfish - Having a heart for others to help them and not just thinking about ourselves is something we want them to learn from a young age.
What was the best lesson you learned from your child?
Genes are real. It's just appalling to see some traits and characteristics are so close to me and my partner.
What is your proudest dad moment?
My 6-year-old always surprises me with his witty mind. There are times when there are guests at our place and the inquisitive questions that he asked just blew me away sometimes. The fact that he can chat with an adult never fail to amaze me.
For my 3-year-old, I'm proud that he managed to expedite his learning of speech in the past 6 months, and is able to speak pretty proper sentences.
If you could ask anyone, dead or alive, for their best parenting tip, who and what would that be?
Singapore DPM Lawrence Wong's parents. Question: How did they raise such a humble leader, the future Prime Minister of Singapore?
How do you manage technology exposure for your child/children?
Honestly, we limit screen time for the kids. A fun fact here is that we don't have a TV at home! Every 2 weeks, we let the kids watch Youtube/Netflix using my iPad. The principle we apply here is not to let these be entitlements but privileges so they will appreciate and not take these for granted.
What hobbies do you and your children share?
Generally going out there and exploring the world! Other than being chatty. :)
Finally, your best dad joke!
My wife calls me the "weakest link" as I always give in to my 3-year-old, partly because I am also the youngest one and I just empathize with him. On the other side, my wife is the "strongest link" as she hardly gives in to the kids, even though my younger one shows his cute dimples. Fun fact: Both my partner and I don't have dimples!