It has been a while since I wrote a blog entry.
I have been recovering from a heavy, heavy heart. Camila passed away and I went into a little bit of a depression or spiral, I’m not sure exactly which is a better definition, but I definitely took it hard. I wake up every morning and spend an hour taking care of the pets in our house. I would spend some of the mornings, about twenty minutes, feeding Camila crickets and worms. The pets mean that much to me, and loosing Camilla was more difficult, because Megan loved her also. One of the worst things is to have to tell your child that their pet has passed or journeyed on to the rainbow bridge. I don’t believe you should have animals if you can’t take care of them, and I do believe they are part of the family. Because, I don’t like to see family members pass away, I had pretty much given up on getting another pet.
My Girls Love Their Pets
Megan and Margaret have different approaches to pets. Megan wants to be a veterinarian. Margaret just wants the pets. Megan will be 7 this April and she wants to do everything having to do with the animals. At her age, there are things she just can’t do, or still requires a lot of supervision. Margaret who will be 10 this year, is always there to pet and love the animals. It was because of this, that Leti and I decided no more pets until the kids are older. Margaret has since changed her attitude towards pets, and it renews my feelings and attitude towards getting more pets in the future.
Here is how the change occurred.
I picked Margaret up from school about a couple months back to take her to her dance classes. She asked me for a cat. Unfortunately for her, I am the type of parent that always points out the obvious. I said “You have two cats, Barney and Cutie!” Not surprisingly, she said “Yes, but I want a cat for myself.” I am going to spare you the detailed back and forth, but it went something like this…
- Me: Are you going to take care of the cat?
- Margaret: Yes.
- Me: Even the kitty litter?
- Margaret: No. You already do that.
- Me: What about the little presents that the cat leave on the floor?
- Margaret: Eeww Oooh no!
- Us: [5 more minutes of the same]
After the 5 minutes of reasons she couldn’t have a cat, I finished with “Cookie Monster, you are not ready to have a pet. They are a huge responsibility, and you just haven’t learned the lessons in life required to start taking care of a pet.” At this point she turned in her seat, started crying and didn’t talk to me for the rest of the ride to dance class.
Later that night…
I had another discussion with her. She has gotten better at expressing herself, because she caught me by surprise. We had the same discussion about her not being ready, and she said “How do I get ready???” The extra 2 question marks were added, because it was said in that tone every kid gets when they are unhappy with you. I was tired and had not realized, that I had just been beaten. In my best parenting voice, I said “You need to show me you can take care of a pet like Megan with Rainbow.” Rainbow is Megan’s beta fish. It has a wall bowl that hangs right next to Megan’s bed. It took only a second to realize that I had just agreed to get Cookie Monster her own beta fish.
No surprise here.
I got her a beta fish. She named her fish Twix, and she has been doing a great job taking care of him. I will keep you posted on her efforts. I am proud of what she has done so far, and I am now considering a hamster to see how she does with it.
Love, and take care of your pets. They deserve it and more…
Cheers,
Paul
