Search your soul for the responsibility required to own a pet. If there is ANY doubt of your capability, do not get one.
A dog should be chosen with great care. You are its means of food. You are the source of its affection. You are its teacher. It must look to you as the leader and obey you. If it does not, kill it.
Your cat can be picked while blind folded. No matter what you do, a cat will act superior and believe you are here to serve it. Play with and pet either one often. The calm that comes from the look of love in a dog’s eyes or in a cat’s purr cannot be achieved anywhere else.
If you find a similarity between your dog and your children as well as your cat and your wife, you have touched understanding.
My father left when I was five or so. I had no such guide as this to work from, either verbal or written. I received my step-father when I was 14 and had already chosen my path and begun my journey. My stumbling through the dark, discovering who I was and how life was to be for me, led me to this place I am now as I write this. My travels are not yet over, but right now I am exactly where I am supposed to be. As it is, my life will not allow me to have children without doing all I can to prevent what happened to me.
Everyone can teach you something if you look hard enough – either how to do something or how not to do it. Whatever path you choose after this is yours, alone. There are many heroes that can mentor us or that we can emulate. Some people, however, have been put on this planet only to serve as a warning to others.
If you're paying attention, you soon figure out that children are small, wonderful, noisy mirrors of all of your good and bad mannerisms. The corollary is that no matter how hard you try, you are the total of your parent’s mannerisms, good and bad, that you have chosen to keep.
“Never raise your hand to your children… it leaves your groin unprotected!” - Anonymous
