Parallels and differences between kids and dogs
Because Sean and I don’t want children, I’ve often felt like I have no right to talk about parenting at all.
Some people tell me owning a dog is similar to having a child. (My old yoga instructor, for example, often drew parallels between her personal experiences raising dogs and kids.) Other mothers say it’s completely different. I know amazing women who wanted biological children whose dogs help fill that role… and I know equally wonderful parents who see those roles as entirely separate to start with.
I think all those different perspectives reflect the individuality in our lives!
I personally avoided the “dog mom” term for a while because I associated it with unproductive (or even dangerous) anthropomorphism. Over time, though? I’ve come to embrace it in certain contexts.
Here’s an overview of the parallels and differences I see between human kids and dogs. You can also listen to some of these thoughts in our October podcast episode about not having children.
* I am not a human parent (
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