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Yep It's True-- Parenting Carries Over To Everything In Life (Good or Bad)

thinkthrice's picture

Including pets.   I warned Chef not to let the bengal kitten attack and bite him.  Oh it's cute when they're tiny and teething.  I encouraged him to "parent" the kitten by not allowing rough play and instead diverting attention to a toy, etc.   I have done this as well as used a can of compressed air when kitty starting playing too rough. 

Now she is getting bigger by the day and her regular teeth came in.  She has taken a few painful bites out of Chef.  This just tells me that Chef is a horrible parent all around.  He is kitmatized by her cuteness and allowing her to get away with everything.  Yes she is darned cute but I'm a firm believer in starting training at a YOUNG age, not waiting until bad habits have developed and then trying to correct them when their older.  Of course I draw this correlation with Chef as regards CHILDREN but in his mind, he was an AWESOME parent to his three ferals and never once was a Disney/Guilty Daddeeee (insert MASSIVE EYE ROLL)

Boundaries have already been established by me and kitten is a loving, good natured pet, but she knows not to cross the line with me and never starts rough play with me anymore. 

I can only IMAGINE what his brats would be getting away with under my roof if they were still coming.  And no they were NEVER cute.  They are actually quite homely but of course you don't see it that way when you're the actual parent.

Comments

ITB2012's picture

Sometimes he requires the dog to do a something but not always. Sometimes he makes the dog get off furniture but other times sits there for an hour without saying a word to the dog. When I am around and DH gives the dog a command the dog looks at me to see if he should follow it, that includes when DH just calls the dog to go with him. 

 

Jcksjj's picture

Oh yes. The your kid vs my kid dynamic also carried over to your dog vs my dog. When I used to get pissed at the dog wrecking things it was almost like I had accused a skid of it.

His dog is also cuter than his kid lol.

Chmmy's picture

Thats a funny connection. Poor Chef cant even parent a kitty.

Also, why is it that a parent cant see the homliness of their child?

Healyourslf's picture

When I met DH, he was living in his original home with SD's dog (she was away at college).  This dog woke DH up at least 3x a night to go out (it was 8 years of age) and pooped in the kitchen AFTER is was let out. Constantly attention-seeking after it was told to go lie down (it would bark ceaselessly until DH would cave). He would excuse the animal's poor behavior with..."but she's so cute."  The dog would only do what DH asked when food was involved, otherwise it did what it wanted whenever it wanted.  SD and her dog behave alike although money is SD's motivator. Go figure.

Animals understand NO and boundaries as well.  I was aware that DH rewarded SD's dog for being a total piece of S*** and he absolutely did the same thing with SD - rewarded her poor behavior, and had no consistency or boundaries.  They had him trained.  

Speaking of dogs, I've often thought about SD and BM as vying for the Alpha female role and have literally spoken of them as "marking their perceived territory."  One thing for sure...they're both bitches. Bow wow wow.