I made the mistake of letting my son get a cat. Have you made that mistake?

Well, it's gone one step further for us in that each one of us now has a cat. My daughter has had her cat for 17 years and we have been working together to take care of her cat during a little illness. It has actually drawn us closer as a family.

Yes, I know what it is like to take care of cats, but I have really grown to love ours and instead of thinking about who should clean the cat pan, I concentrate on how much I love this little animal and how much joy they bring to our house. I can't think of anything in my life that I truly enjoy that does not involve work.

I don't think I would yell, I would just not be available for anything this boy needs until he cleans the cat pan and keeps his word. It seems that it doesn't take long before our kids need something. That's when you lower the boom and say, "Why should I help you, when you don't keep your word?" I then would calmly tell him to get his job done and then you will be glad to help him with whatever he needs! This is sort of an idea from the latest child rearing book for kids of any age by Kevin Lehman. The book name is "Have a New Kid By Friday: How to Change Your Child's Attitude, Behavior and Character in 5 days." The local library should have a copy.

I have 2 cats and no kids so I have to look after them myself, it is expensive taking them to the vets to get shots and be spayed etc, I had a charity that helped me pay for the spaying. They are very loving animals so it's all worth it in the end when they sit on your lap and purr.

Maybe that what my mom's mistake when we adopt a puppy. LOL. I mean, I have the point of view from the children. It is cute when they are little, huggable, clean and healthy. Not when they are piss, sh*it and sick.
It is cute when we can play with them but it is not cute when we have to take care of them. I know it is the lack of the responsibility, but kids really needs to understand what a responsibility is. I think I can understand you now like I understand my mother now. She didn't allow us to adopt a pet because she wasn't sure enough about our ability to take care of the pets and the cleanliness of the house.
LOL
I just hope you're patient enough to take care of your son and his pets.

Hi Dia! I have no pet. I like to pet a cat but it touches foods as such my family members do not like it. have a nice day.

I made the mistake of agreeing to a dog, ugh and what a rock head she is too. Maggie(our dog) is super lovey but man is she lacking intelligence. Then she went out and got a cat from her aunt, like we needed a cat. Oh well now I have two more mouths to feed.

Yes, I've made that mistake. After our dog died at 13, my husband was after me to get another--I didn't want one! The kids were the worst, they wanted a dog so I finally gave in and I was the ONLY one taking care of him!

I still have him now that I live alone, him and another we got to keep him company when everyone was away for the day. I love my dogs but they are my last.

Kids will never take care of pets! Better to serve as a foster home for an animal to see how your kids react, but of course we don't think of that at the time. Looks as if you have yourself a lovable cat!

Hello Onlydia, I know how you feel! I have my niece who keep pestering my sister to buy her rabbits. My sister was telling her it is not easy to keep rabbit at home and more ever they already have a Shi Tzu dog at home. My sister just know the little girl of her ( which is only 9 years old ) is not ready to take care pets on her own. The Shi Tzu dog is still under caring of the maid.

But due to my niece keep pestering, end up she have got the rabbits bought from pet shop by her father.

For the first few days, my niece is still exciting to play with the 2 rabbits. But after 1 week, she get bored and never bother about the rabbits anymore. Now the rabbits are die for don't know what reason. My sister felt so sorry to the rabbit and my niece was sad too. I think they have made the mistake to buy the rabbits whereby no one at home is willing to take good care for the animals.

WHen the kids are little I did the same thing......but it turned out okay as the pets eventually became mine! The last dog I had was supposed to be my sons....turns out he was my dog in the end! A very good companion!

Hi onlydia, i've never fallen for that one though people are always offering their little kitties to us in a desperate shot to get rid of the things, they're breeding like rabbits out here and if they can't give them away they have to sneak them off to the mountain in the dead of night. I told my son that a cat would break its leg on the spiral staircase and eat us out of house and home, not to mention the house would smell of cat smells. I also pointed out to him that if he got attached to said kitty then he'd only get upset if a snake ate it. So now he's content with our pet spiders instead which are no trouble at all.

you'll end up loving it as well. Kids have very short attention span and are distracted by new fads easily. you'll get used to it don't worry