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24Feb2013
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Calling yourself a parent to furbabies is offensive apparently
I’ve already done a post on this letter but I want to revisit the letter and dismantle the condescending fail within it because I’m a bitch like that.
Dear Childless “Parents” of Dogs,
It’s “Childfree” not “Childless”. Childfree refers to the desire to never have children. Childless refers to wanting children but not having them yet. If you’re going to bust an ovary at us – get our communities name correct first.
I’m not sure how much longer we can remain friends. I am getting worried that I might flick you in the eye next time you say that you understand what it’s like to have kids because you have a dog.
Call me the next time your canine keeps you up all night sucking on your nipple. Then, we’ll talk. <—– Case. Point. End of letter.
You’ve never raised newborn puppies have you? You know the tiny defenseless manically shitting furballs who need around the clock care? The ones who will grow into young puppies who need fulltime attention because you can’t just leave them in a bathroom with newspaper and water. They develop behavioural problems if neglected for too long.
Just kidding. I’ve got a mouthful for you today.
High horse please. Thank you. Now listen up.
Oh goody! This will be as fun as a rectal cleanout.
Your dog is just that, a fucking dog. Nothing more. You can dress her up, carry her in a purse, wipe her ass…. I don’t care – it’s still a dog. What’s that you say? Your dog is “really high maintenance,” and she’s “your baby”?? Try putting an actual baby in a cage while you go to work for the day and see what happens. Your spoiled little fur ball might be a pisser when you come home, but it sure beats jail time.
Whoa, tone it down there. I think the height of the High and Mighty Elitest Wank Job pedasteal you’re perched on is having adverse affects on your ability to not be a jerk.
Way to put animals under humans on the value ladder. You do realise animal neglect is a punishable offense under the law?
I wonder how often you get to bathe in jail. Speaking of bathing, how often do you wash your dog? Mmm hmmm. I’d be curious how long until a child would be taken from you for neglect if you bathed a child that often.
This statement smells like the authour implies that dogs don’t need as much work therefore it isn’t as hard – a fully grown dog maybe but last time I checked – teenagers were independent creatures able to feed and water themselves. Dogs can’t open pantry doors looking for food.
I’m also curious when your dog started sleeping through the night. I’ve heard your dog wakes up early – say 5, 6am? Interesting. Take that wake up time and then add a few years of multiple nighttime wakings, combined with actually having to get them to sleep in the first place, and you’re right – you *totally* understand what having a child is like.
Blah blah being a mother is so hard because I wake up a lot. Again, you’ve never raised newborn puppies have you? Or had cats with seperation axiety issues with no way to separate yourself from them for a few hours so you can get sleep because you live in a studio apartment with a combined bedroom/kitchen/laundry and a small separate room for a toilet.
By the way, how long does it take you to put your dog to bed? You know, between brushing her teeth, wrestling to get pajamas on, reading stories, singing songs, etc. How long does it all take? How many times does your dog call you back for a drink of water or a tissue? For a sock that’s just a little crooked? Never? Oh, that’s weird – she just goes to bed?
Ever raised crying puppies? Crying kittens? Sick birds? You don’t get to whinge about how motherhood is hard because you chose that path. If you don’t want to have to deal with all that – you should have aborted.
One might say it’s starting to look like dogs and kids actually are different…
Not really. Both are dependent creatures who rely on others for survival except kids will eventually be independant. Dogs are domesticated and lack skills to survive in the wild unless they go feral.
But we haven’t even covered meal times, school, or doctor’s visits. What voodoo are you performing to get your dog child to just eat whatever the hell you give her?
Please do share.
This whinging mummy has never had animals with allergies before has she?
Also, regarding the parent teacher conferences, I assume your canine kid is well-behaved and making good grades?
Only after a fuckload of work at expensive obedience schools.
I suppose if your smart ass realized how different dogs and kids really are, you would have noticed that I’ve been to the doctor more in the first 6 months of my healthy baby’s life than you have in 6 years with a healthy dog, but you didn’t notice.
You were too busy judging my life, which “isn’t as hectic as I make it seem,” because you understand “exactly” what I’m going through since you’re a “dog parent.”
You’re awfully judge-y for someone who is pissed off about being judged.
All I have to say is “suck it.” Better yet, let your dog suck it. That’s right because if you actually let your dog nurse on you all night long then you really might understand what having a child is like, but in that case, we wouldn’t be able to be friends anyway you creep.
Love,
Your (non)Friend with Kids
There you have it folks, the asinine ramblings of a mummy martyr. This article was never about “kids and dogs are different” – the authour is just pissed that she forgot to copyright the term “parent” to refer to people who have human babies. We love our children with fur, they’re still dependent on us for survival. We are in essence their parents.
As a childfree person, I don’t judge parents for making the choice to have children, I judge the parents (and non-parents) behaviour and call them out on it. If you’ve made the choice to have children (or animals), by all means rant about it but don’t be shocked when you get no sympathy from childfree or animal free person – we know what parenthood entails which is why we’ve opted out of it. You made the choice and now you’re stuck with it – should have done your research on it. Suck it.
You don’t get a high horse to sit on because a condom broke and a cranky looking potato popped out of your vagina. You don’t get to invalidate the experiences of individuals with animals just because you’ve bred.
And you certainly don’t have a copyright on the term “parent” either.
The entire article reads like the authour is feeling pissed that someone dare use the same term she does because don’t you know being a mummy is so hard that if someone else uses the term “parent” and they don’t have human babies – it might invalidate her experiences? (sarcasm).
Suck it authour. Your experiences as a child parent are not affected by a dog parent using the same term. Your experiences aren’t invalidated. You just want to lord some precieved superiority over others by claiming the title of “parent”. It’s the only explanation I have for someone so adamately opposses the term “dog parent”.
“If they use parent to refer to looking after a dog, my parent status isn’t special anymore”.
Cry me a fucking river.
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I am CF and have pets but I don’t feel the need to call myself a parent or call my pets (fur)babies. No matter how you want to see it, ‘parent’ and ‘baby/child’ are connected with humans having offspring. I don’t need a substitute for something that I don’t WANT (children) or something that I don’t WANT TO BE (parent). So why borrow/claim these terms?
We aren’t borrowing them. A parent or guardian is someone who looks after a dependent person. Regardless of biologly or species. The term accurately reflects our role looking after animals.
If you consider yourself a parent and your pet as a child, are you still ‘childfree’ then?
No kidding, each to his/her own. I feel fine being ‘just’ a pet owner, I guess 
Human childfree
“Guardian” sounds more appropriate than pet “owner”, though, and so does “parent”, even though I’ll agree with you that the latter is a little odd. Regardless, it doesn’t bother me one way or the other whether people who have companion animals want to call themselves “parents”.
Not that I’m even remotely comparing the position of a childfree person to that of a gay person struggling for her/his rights, but the author’s rant reminds me of how some homophobes insist that the word “marriage” should ONLY refer to a female-male partnership, as if the word will lose some of its magical power by being associated with those yucky gay couples.
That’s a great comparsion. Indeed it does sound like that.
I will admit I didn’t read the whole thing through because lazy, so I can not really comment on everything of course. But something that annoyed me was the whole thing with children not sleeping properly and all that. Ever considered that if you DIDN’T raise your children to believe in the boogeyman, monsters under the bed, mister Sandman, Jesus and all other weird and inane stuff, maybe they would start appreciating nighttime and actually do some sleeping during it instead of being awake half the night terrified of a damn shadow?
I remember being at mass in grade school (I went to a catholic school) and crying because I was scared a man named Jesus would kidnap me and take me away.
I was not aware that Jesus Christ keeps kids up at night in terror. You might be doing something wrong at your house, especially since most people use Him to convince their kids that someone is protecting them at night (same with the Sandman).
Also no one teaches their kids about scary stuff that comes to get them at night – no parents with sense, anyway. I think that’s the job of sadistic older siblings & other kids who heard it from their siblings.
Depends on the family or person. Some people certainly use the jesus and god character (and the concept of hell) as a way to keep their children or people in general doing what they want. (“Don’t do this or god will get angry” “Everytime you masturbate, you make baby jesus cry” “god hates gays, you don’t want god to hate you, do you?”)
I have never, in the entirety of my life, heard anybody say that to anyone, let alone their children.
But people DO say things like “God doesn’t like it when you lie” or “Jesus cries when people get hurt”.
Sensitive topics like the ones you just mentioned are usually simply ignored (and they’re sure as shite not going to bring “baby Jesus” in on anything).
Are you sure you’re not just quoting those psycho “Christians” you see on TV?
It does happen. I went to a Christian primary school (elementary school) and the threat of hell or god smiting you was used a lot. Especially in mass. It happened a lot in the families of the religious students.
It annoys me when parents complain about their bratty children and then complain even more when we lack sympathy. It anooys me even more when they call us selfish and then point out how we have an easier life so should PITY them (“yeah it’s ok for you because you have so much f**king free time” ect). At the end of the day, no one forced you to have kids. Equally, I hate it when people say that it’s ‘only’ an animal. They never say it to people with blind dogs, do they? But of course people that belittle animals would feebly say that they “don’t count”.