Our author really believes that having a rabbit, cat or dog is really, really great for the development of the offspring. She still doesn't want anyone. Not even later.
Some of my friends have been thinking I'm a bad mother since last Sunday at the latest. On that weekend we were sitting together on a birthday and my friend Sabine started to talk about the fact that she had bought "Schlappi" and "Schnuffi", two super cute dwarf rabbits. The two are so incredibly good for the development of their children that you would notice after three days how they had learned to take responsibility.
By the way, her daughters are one and three. I don't want to sound skeptical, but somehow I doubt that they'll go shopping for food for "Schlappi" and "Schnuffi" or clean the stable on their own. Or maybe I'm just too negative.
Aren't hamsters nocturnal?
Sabine had barely finished speaking, so there were other contributions on the subject. I hadn't realized before that my entire circle of friends kept turtles, fish, dogs, cats and hamsters at home. Probably because I was never interested in it. With the last animal, however, I did join the conversation. "Aren't they nocturnal?" I just asked. And it started a discussion that lasted for hours. "That's why we also have guinea pigs", explained the otherwise very reserved Daniela and started a lecture about the advantages of keeping small animals with children, which I couldn't follow because it was really very boring. Please don't get it wrong, Dani was definitely right about everything she said! I just don't care. Because my kids will never have pets. Unless you buy it yourself and take care of it yourself. For this, however, they should be older than 16. Or already moved out.
Once I took care of the neighbors' guinea pigs
Of course, my two children – they are three and five – also want a dog. Or a cat. Or a rabbit. However, the object of their desire changes about every hour. I could say now that I find the educational value of a pet in education to be controversial. But I don't do that at all. That's not what I was talking about. I just don't want one. I also think my children are too small and irresponsible to take care of. Incidentally, this is not pessimistic, just very realistic.
Besides that, I took care of the neighbors' guinea pigs for three weeks because I was too complacent to say that I didn't feel like it. The first few days the little ones always came along and helped. On about day four, nobody felt like doing it anymore, the little pigs from the sea were only petted briefly on their backs, then they devoted their attention to the children's kitchen and the neighboring child's Barbies. I, on the other hand, cleaned the huge cage and fed the animals. I even liked them, so they should be nice too. Otherwise, cleaning cages is not one of my favorite pastimes. Otherwise I have to clean enough.
"I only said what I think"
But to come back to the fact that everyone thinks I am a bad mother: At some point at this party someone asked me what animal we had. "None," I replied, "I don't want that. In the end the work sticks with me." I have seldom seen so many horrified looks. It was like I had just told you that I hit my kids off regularly. I wondered for a moment if I had to feel bad, but I just said what I thought.
In the afternoon our daughter played in the newly acquired garden, she collected pussy willows. She stroked them and asked if we could bathe them. We tried that later too. Then something struck me: these were ideal pets. Cozy and frugal. The next time someone asks me if we have pets, I'll answer with a firm "yes". "My daughter has pussy willows. She loves them more than anything," I will add – and not a bit ashamed of it.