Get a job! Stop slobbing all over my shoes!
April 3rd, 2007
Dogs make me think of kids, because, well, they’re more trouble than cats.
All right, Hannah alone never reminded me much of children, but now I have two dogs, one quite young, and I’m pregnant. The speculations are inevitable.
Now, I know that dogs and kids aren’t that similar except in the most basic of ways: they eat, play, poop, destroy things and when they’re young they have poor bladder and bowel control. I mean, you can lock a dog in a small room when you leave the house, and nobody cares. I hear you can’t do that with children.
But nonetheless, I can’t help but notice how I behave and wonder if it will translate to children. If I want it to translate to children. The two dogs remind me of siblings so much. They fight, they play, the younger boy pesters the older girl, just to be a pest. They miss each other when parted and she hates to be with him, both at the same time. He wants everything she has. And so on and so forth. And I wonder, do I want to treat siblings the way I treat them?
I mean, Hannah is the Good Dog. She’s not always the good dog, but she’s well-behaved and has an engaging personality. Dante is the Naughty Dog. He gets into trouble and his personality is very simple. And these things influence how I talk to them. For example, we were outside in the suddenly-lovely weather, and when it came time to come in, Dante raced ahead and romped in the grass. I let him in and then went to see what was taking Hannah so long. She was taking a long, roundabout route to the back door, across the porch, avoiding all the places that had been sloshing with mud up until yesterday. I smiled. “Clever Hannah, you don’t like getting your feet dirty. Ready for your cookie? Inside– Dante, what do you have in your mouth?”
Because they’re dogs, I don’t think what I’m saying matters very much. But I think with kids, especially siblings, it can. It seems like it could create problems if I went straight from praising one child (even indirectly) to being horrified by another. It seems like if I visibly expect the child-equivalent of Dante to misbehave constantly, he’ll try to meet my expectations. Especially if he’s competing with another child for attention.
Anyhow, just stuff to think about if I do have multiple kids someday.
Categories: Updates From the Void | Tags: Me
