On small children and pets
Mar. 31st, 2010 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkoldI want to preface this rant by saying I like children, even small children. I also am a pet owner and adore my cats. Anyone who knows me, knows that Cookie and Basil mean the world to me. So this rant is not a diatribe about pet ownership or having children, this is about being responsible and respectful of other people.
As usual Passover has been a huge mess. My parents have kept with family tradition and managed to have a huge fight. One of the issues, was the surprise invitation of the small children of a close friend of my father's. Said children are 4 and 6 respectively. The older one, tends to behave while the younger one does not. My parents have no grandchildren and their youngest child is older than many people who read my LJ lol Their house is not even close to being childproof an it currently has 8+ inches of water in the basement because something has gone horribly wrong.
My father's perspective was that if you invite his friend since she has young children of course said children are invited.
And my perspective, is young children, like pets or any dietary restrictions are something that must be warned about BEFORE you show up at a house unless you know said house will be accepting of said issues in advance. If you know someone runs a home day care for toddlers than yeah, they can probably deal with your kid, just like if they have a child close to the same age as your child, their house has probably already been child-proofed.
I've had someone show up at my house and then become upset because I would not let her tiny dog into my house. They did not warn me ahead of time and just assumed since they adored their dog and their dog was so good that of course it could just come to my house. The problem with this, I own cats. I own cats that are terrified of any and all dogsand most other cats as well and I was not going to put my cats out just because someone was being rude and had not asked ahead of time if it was OK to bring her dog.
Small children are no different. If they're under 3 months old, one can make the strong assumption the mother is likely to bring them, just because if they are nursing it is sort of hard not to bring them with you somewhere. However between newborn and even up to 1 year, most kids can be put in a playpen and will stay where you put them to some extent. Toddlers and children under 5 need child proofing. They need constant supervision. Just looking at my house I have, perfumes that smell wonderful but I am sure are not wonderful to taste in an easy to open cabinet under my TV, lots of cleaning products in easy reach of small children and not locked away and many many expensive dolls that are very tempting.
And again, it is like another issue near and dear to my heart, being a vegetarian. As a vegetarian, unless I know the other people I am visiting are also vegetarian. I owe it to my host/hostess to warn them about my dietary restrictions when I am first invited and to allow my host/hostess the chance to back out. However, if they accept our company, they owe us something we can actually eat.
In the end, I guess I think people need to be responsible and take responsibility. It's not about not valuing choices, it's about being respectful of others as well.
As usual Passover has been a huge mess. My parents have kept with family tradition and managed to have a huge fight. One of the issues, was the surprise invitation of the small children of a close friend of my father's. Said children are 4 and 6 respectively. The older one, tends to behave while the younger one does not. My parents have no grandchildren and their youngest child is older than many people who read my LJ lol Their house is not even close to being childproof an it currently has 8+ inches of water in the basement because something has gone horribly wrong.
My father's perspective was that if you invite his friend since she has young children of course said children are invited.
And my perspective, is young children, like pets or any dietary restrictions are something that must be warned about BEFORE you show up at a house unless you know said house will be accepting of said issues in advance. If you know someone runs a home day care for toddlers than yeah, they can probably deal with your kid, just like if they have a child close to the same age as your child, their house has probably already been child-proofed.
I've had someone show up at my house and then become upset because I would not let her tiny dog into my house. They did not warn me ahead of time and just assumed since they adored their dog and their dog was so good that of course it could just come to my house. The problem with this, I own cats. I own cats that are terrified of any and all dogs
Small children are no different. If they're under 3 months old, one can make the strong assumption the mother is likely to bring them, just because if they are nursing it is sort of hard not to bring them with you somewhere. However between newborn and even up to 1 year, most kids can be put in a playpen and will stay where you put them to some extent. Toddlers and children under 5 need child proofing. They need constant supervision. Just looking at my house I have, perfumes that smell wonderful but I am sure are not wonderful to taste in an easy to open cabinet under my TV, lots of cleaning products in easy reach of small children and not locked away and many many expensive dolls that are very tempting.
And again, it is like another issue near and dear to my heart, being a vegetarian. As a vegetarian, unless I know the other people I am visiting are also vegetarian. I owe it to my host/hostess to warn them about my dietary restrictions when I am first invited and to allow my host/hostess the chance to back out. However, if they accept our company, they owe us something we can actually eat.
In the end, I guess I think people need to be responsible and take responsibility. It's not about not valuing choices, it's about being respectful of others as well.
