[email protected]

In a message dated 11/27/2003 3:46:20 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
* /The Cat Years/ from the San Francisco Chronicle by
Adair Lara: *

*I** just realized that while children are dogs --
loyal and
affectionate-- teenagers are cats. It's so easy to be
a dog owner. You
feed it, train it, boss it around. It puts its head on
your knee and
gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting. It
bounds indoors
with enthusiasm when you call it.*

*Then, around age 13, your adoring little puppy turns
into a big old
cat.
Oh, it's terribly obnoxious, but I think they MEAN well. (Which is always one
of the worst things you can say about somebody. You know they're $%#@$% up
somewhere.)

The point, at least, seems to be to try to understand a developmental change,
and that it's normal. The analogy is not wonderful...but it all could be
worse. And as insulting as it is to teenagers, I think this person has some bias
against cats they should really look at.

Kathryn


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