That horrid word is rearing its ugly head a lot lately. You know the one I’m talking about….when you’re in your late twenties and in a committed relationship. You have a house which you partly own and the bank mostly owns, two cars in a garage and nice albeit mismatched decor. You’ve even thought about moving to a nice secluded piece of acreage far enough away from the city to not be bothered by the constant drone of trucks down the motorway yet close enough that you can easily satisfy your cravings for a Zaraffas coffee or yet another handbag. Apparently all of that means you must be ready to start a family.

I really don’t have a huge interest in little children or babies. They are cute enough I guess and they do funny stuff from time to time but by and large, I’m not really sure I like them. Mind you, my only experience in looking after children is with my nieces and nephew and that was enough to put me off for a life time. It prompted me to start the “perfectly acceptable reasons NOT to have babies” list. Every so often I find an interesting tidbit from other people’s experiences with the whole package from start to finish. To list a few:

• Sticky fingers, even after they have been washed copious times, even by adults. They are STILL sticky
• You have to lock up anything and everything of value or sentiment that is breakable
• People think bad of you when you rouse on them for doing something naughty
• Oh and the whole wiping noses on parent’s or guardian’s clothing - that is just SO GROSS I can’t even think about it!
• They make a mess everywhere on a daily basis - even if you are fortunate to have a cleaner, your house still looks like a bomb hit it
• You start to resent your childless friends and family for being able to go on frequent trips away at the drop of the hat and whinge behind their backs how you never ever get a holiday

When you think about it like that, why do women choose to have children? Does a switch in your brain suddenly get flipped over which makes all that stuff okay?

Now I’m not saying that the cats are hassle free furry kids. They make their presence well known by leaving little tufts of fur everywhere like tumble weed. They puke occasionally, generally two centimetres away from the nearest piece of easy clean floor surface. They do break stuff and you have to be aware that nowhere is safe from a cat unless you shut the door. BUT….

• They toilet train easily and from a very early age
• They look after themselves, you don’t need to hold their hand
• Even the annoying things they do are very cute, as opposed to just plain annoying
• You can leave them at home alone for the day from a young age and no one reports you to DOCs
• They don’t care if you get upset with them, they will just do whatever they want anyway
• You can yell at them when they do something naughty and no one screams child abuse
• They are easy to look after when you go on holidays - the care taker need only provide their favourite food, water and the occasional cuddle if the cats deem it appropriate and most cats will be quite happy with that
• Oh and while we’re on the travel theme, friends and family will happily look after your cats for a few days or a few weeks while you’re on holidays and you don’t even have to bribe them

I think it’s a clear win for the cats

November 7th, 2007 | Tags: Cats | Category: Cats, Home and Lifestyle |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL