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 (