Like, I'm a big pet person. My husband too. We get heavily attached to animals. Not just dogs or cats, either, but like when one of our rats died a few months ago, we were hysterically sobbing. It was crazy. We mourned. And when our cat had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago...well, it's been devastating. We're still collapsing into heaps of emotion from that.

So legit, I get the amazing love you can have for an animal. Growing up in a fucked up home life, my pet cat was literally the only kind thing in my life for many years. I. Get. It.

But it's still not the same as raising a human.

And yeah, I don't say anything, but I think it's lame when people without kids are trying to be a part of mother's day/father's day. Like, that's not for you. Maybe it's petty, but I just think that if you don't have kids, you don't get to expect to be a part of a holiday about having kids. I'm not gonna go out of my way to say anything, but damn, you didn't have to carry and birth your fucking dog. You didn't have to find the right home to move into that's both affordable and not in a shit district. You don't have to help Fluffy with homework, and prepare a wide variety of nutritional and tasty meals for four kids with completely different palettes and texture issues. You don't have to French braid their hair for school in the morning and figure out activities you can actually afford in the summer, and make sure you budget for every birthday and holiday and teach them how to be functional adults. You teach a dog basic manners, take it to the vet regularly, and 99% of the time, your hard part is done. You want to go see a movie? Into the crate! You have to take one to an appointment? Crate the others! Beyond basic manners and house training, you don't have to teach that fucking animal anything. Anything. Fido is never going to need to know how to multiply fractions, or what to do when the kids at school find out our family is atheist, or how to cope with questions of sexuality.

And I'm ranting and rambling. Point is, I agree. I really fucking agree. And not because I'm an animal hater...put me in a room with a cat I've never met and a person I've never met, I'm a billion times more likely to make friends with the cat, and not the person. But kids are different. And it's fine if you don't want kids/can't have kids/aren't sure yet/whatever, you do you! No hate! No judgement! But fuck off of my parental shit and quit acting like it's the same 'cause it's fucking not, y'know?