FOR Mr Choo Boon Kuan, the day's best moment comes before sunrise, when his three little boys clamber onto his bed and climb all over him and his sleeping wife Cheng Tan Ching.

Says Mr Choo: "It is good to wake up feeling warm and happy like this every morning. I feel so close to my boys when they do this and I sense we share a wonderful bond. They make me feel that life is real and life is good."

This wake-up call by the boys, aged from three to eight, also moves their mother.

She says: "This is intimate family time. As I look at our boys, I just feel a special warmth knowing that our blood runs in them and that we are family."

A tad too sentimental, a little too dramatic?

Mr Choo, 35, vice-president of sales management at SingPost, doesn't think so.

"This is how we feel about our kids," he declares.

"But we don't spoil them. I am all for discipline and I even spank them once in a while when they get out of hand. I am not one to spare the rod, but after disciplining them, we will then explain where they went wrong."

Mrs Choo, also 35, who left her job a month ago as the head of the finance and administration department in ANZ Bank, adds that her husband is the family's disciplinarian. She says that the boys, though boisterous, are really good kids.

They were the reason Mrs Choo left a good job to be a full-time mother and wife.

She says: "I used to work about 12 hours a day. Although I did spend time with the kids when I returned home at night and during the weekends, I nevertheless felt it was becoming more difficult to strike a balance between work and a growing family."

During the interview, their home was alive with squeals of laughter from Yan Qi, 8; Yi Xuan, 6, and En Ting, 3, as they romped around excited at having visitors in their home.

Mr and Mrs Choo with Madam Lee and the three boys (from left): Yan Qi, Yi Xuan and En Ting

How this family has been able to manage with three children has much to do with Mr Choo's mother, Madam Lee Siew Luan, 72, in whose home the boys spend much of the workweek after school. Says Mrs Choo: "I was able to go to work with peace of mind, knowing that our boys are in the very good hands of my mum-in-law and our Indonesian maid. It helps that my mum-in-law speaks Malay."

Of his mother, Mr Choo says: "She is really a tower of strength. She is the saviour as she provides solid family support. She is the blessing in our lives."

And what does Madam Lee have to say?

"Oh, the kids add meaning and liveliness in my life. I live in a nearby HDB block with my husband and daughter.

The days pass quickly as my grandsons can be a handful.

They run and climb all over the place. I ask them to be still but they never listen. Anyway, it's all right. Boys will be boys."

On family planning, the Choos said they had at first wanted to have two children but after the first child was born, they changed their minds and planned for four.

Mrs Choo says: "When our first child was born, we were ecstatic. It felt so wonderful to be parents. We had so much joy. Then came the second child and we were sure children make married life meaningful. So we planned for two more.

"But we told ourselves, the next two should be girls, so that each pair of boys and girls can grow up giving each other companionship and emotional support."

But when their third child also turned out to be a boy, they decided to stop at three.

Mrs Choo said another reason why she planned for four kids was the good experience she had with motherhood.

The family spends their weekends visiting places such as the Bukit Timah forest reserve, the Botanic Gardens, Sungei Buloh and Pasir Ris beach.

"I want the boys to appreciate nature," says Mr Choo.

His wife adds: "We are parents who will not pressure our kids to score multiple A1s in school. If they can do it, good, but if they cannot, it is all right. We will see what other talents they have and try to nurture these."

The Choos met in Temasek Junior College and had a seven-year courtship, which spanned their years in Nanyang Technological University and graduation when both earned BAs in accounting.

Says Mrs Choo: "I am a happy woman. My husband is a reliable and responsible person and has a set of values and principles on how to bring up our kids."