Pets or kids? Err.. what do you think?

A colleague of mine made a very disturbing(for me) comment some time back. It made me think a lot. Let me know what you people have to say about it:

"I would rather have 2 pets than having a kid. My wife wants to have one, but see my theory is, if the kids grow up and do not turn out as I wanted them to be, then it is going to be a huge disappointment for me. But with pets, it is never the case. They will just behave the way you want."

The first thought that came to my mind after hearing this was :What if your parents had thought the same way?

Let me tell you something else too: This person comes from a very different culture and background that I am from. So I generally try not to be too judgemental on the person because I may not be knowing all the facts about them. But when X said this, I said to myself "You are better off with a pet only."