Navigating a big city with young children in tow can be a challenge to the most determined of parents. Busy streets and a short supply of family-friendly facilities can leave tempers frayed.
However, overall, facilities for families are improving and shopping centres have recognised that families are a great source of revenue, but have specific needs.
Elements in Kowloon, for instance, set a new standard for family friendliness when it opened. Betty Leong Sin-ling, MTR Corporation's general manager of investment property, said from the outset that mall managers would pay particular attention to details, even down to washroom facilities. 'Families are one of our major target customer groups so a spacious and well-equipped baby care room will make Elements a pleasant and hassle-free experience.'
At Pacific Place, practicality was combined with aesthetics in the redesign of the mall and the contemporary 'fluid' design flows all the way to the baby changing area. A spokesman for the mall says the renovation project 'gave an opportunity to incorporate the small satisfying details', which offer the best experience for families.
There's no doubt that facilities are improving but parents would still like to see more thought go into them. When university lecturer Rhys Brabiner is out with his two-year-old daughter and five-month-old baby, it's always a relief to find an establishment with changing facilities accessible to men with children. 'It would be great if someone put a little thought into these,' he says. 'At The Landmark there is a changing table in the men's room on the third floor, but it's fixed to the wall and literally right next to the urinals.'
Michelle Castillo-Mohlman is an alternative health practitioner who spends a quarter of her time in Hong Kong and the rest in Singapore where, she says, parents are spoiled for choice: 'The Singaporean government is fiercely promoting reproduction and this leaves extra funds available for shopping malls to construct posh parents lounges.'