The Mowery Family

My sister sent this to me, and boy oh boy is it true!!!




> "Children As Pets - The Cat Years"
>
> 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 it's 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.
> When you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed, as if wondering who
> died and made you emperor. Instead of dogging your doorsteps, it
> disappears. You won't see it again until it gets hungry -- then it
> pauses on its sprint through the kitchen long enough to turn its nose up
> at whatever you're serving.
> When you reach out to ruffle its head, in that old affectionate gesture,
> it twists away from you, then gives you a blank stare, as if trying to
> remember where it has seen you before. You, not realizing that the dog
> is now a cat, think something must be desperately wrong with it. It
> seems so antisocial, so distant, sort of depressed. It won't go on
> family outings.
> Since you're the one who raised it, taught it to fetch and stay and sit
> on command, you assume that you did something wrong. Flooded with guilt
> and fear, you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave. Only now
> you're dealing with a cat, so everything that worked before now produces
> the opposite of the desired result. Call it, and it runs away. Tell it
> to sit, and it jumps on the counter. The more you go toward it, wringing
> your hands, the more it moves away.
> Instead of continuing to act like a dog owner, you can learn to behave
> like a cat owner. Put a dish of food near the door, and let it come to
> you. But remember that a cat needs your help and your affection too. Sit
> still, and it will come, seeking that warm, comforting lap it has not
> entirely forgotten. Be there to open the door for it.
> One day your grown-up child will walk into the kitchen, give you a big
> kiss and say, "You've been on your feet all day. Let me get those dishes
> for you."
> Then you will realize your cat is a dog again!
>