'It was a failure': Christopher Lee once spent over $800 buying robot cat toy for son Zed

Christopher Lee once spent over NT$20,000 (S$820) for a cat, and it wasn't even a pedigree.

It was, however, a robot toy for his son Zed.

The local actor stars in the upcoming Taiwanese drama Q18 Quantum Dice: Allegory of the Quantum and shared during an Aug 17 press conference that, while he doesn't buy his 10-year-old son everything he wants, he will give in to Zed's wishes unless he thinks the item isn't useful or is too expensive.

"Sometime back, I bought him an electronic cat because he likes pets, animals and nature and I thought he was too young to have a real pet," the 53-year-old said.

"You need to take care of a real pet so he asked me to buy an electronic pet for him. I thought it was okay. Eventually, the 'cat' just laid there every day. I asked him, 'Are you taking good care of your cat?'"

He added that Zed needed to "teach" the robot and "communicate" with it to grow and become like a real cat, and that it cost over NT$20,000.

To test its realism, Christopher even smacked the robot once and it cried out.

"Of course, you can't smack a real one," he said. "But I think it's permanently lying at its charging pod now."

Christopher later added that he's not actually sure if the robot cat is even at their home anymore, and thinks he "shouldn't buy something like that anymore".

"I think the electronic cat was a failure," he shared. "I asked Zed why his 'cat' doesn't move. You can even teach it to go and charge itself, according to the instructions manual."

When his co-star, Taiwanese actress Tien Hsin, suggested that giving kids a robot cat seemed like a good idea as it allowed them to try having a pet, Christopher agreed.

Christopher made the robot cat purchase two or three years ago and, while Zed still likes pets, he isn't allowed to have a dog until he's able to look after it. For now, he keeps fishes as "he only needs to feed them".

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkn7S9oSFXg[/embed]

Parenting son with reasoning and not corporal punishment

Christopher married actress Fann Wong, also 53, and had Zed in 2014.

He previously told AsiaOne that his own parents administered corporal punishment on him, but he's not an advocate for it.

"Zed knows what he should and should not do," he explained. "When he knows he has done something wrong, he owns up to him by himself.

"That's the kind of education we want to give him, not by using strict forms of punishment, such as hitting."

He added that parents had to be patient with their kids as, although it may take a few tries sometimes, it is understandable as even adults need to be told what to do a few times.

"He's most afraid we're disappointed with him," Christopher said, adding that Zed cares about his parents' feelings a lot.

"He is actually more afraid of that as compared to us being angry at him. When Fann is angry, he will tremble."

[[nid:697629]]

drimac@asiaone.com