Client: Huffpost
Website: http://huffpost.com
Task: Freelance Writer
https://www.parenting.com/users/truthfulmommy
Search results for: “back school/page/37/to https:/voicesforhealthykids.org/ https:/www.target.com/c/kids-back-to-school/-/N-5xtyp”
Parenting
Client: Parenting
Website: http://parenting.com
Task: Freelance Writer
https://www.parenting.com/users/truthfulmommy
How to Talk to Your Tween about Everything
Learning how to talk to your tween in a tone, patience and understanding that is required is truly a learned skill. Middle school is the worst! As a parent, it’s really easy to feel like you can’t talk to your tween about anything but I’m telling you how to talk to your tween about everything. Actually, that is probably the best advice ever. Just keep talking and listening. Don’t forget the listening bit especially when it feels awkward.
I’m a pretty outgoing person. Classic ENFP. and I come from a big Catholic family so there’s not much you can throw at me that will knock me on my rear end but middle school did. Middle school pretty much FUBARed me. Yep. I said it. It did. Tween and teen chat is something I am still working on because now, the ante is upped.
It’s all that awkwardness mixed with gangliness and those hormones. When I was a tween and teen, I felt like I was living in someone else’s body and like someone or something had taken over my brain and not just mine but all of my friends. It was like from one day to the next, you never knew who you were going to be or who your friends were going to be.
Things were changing at a dizzying pace. It’s no wonder that I was so angsty. I was spinning out of control and I could not get a handle on it. I was at the mercy of biology and if I remember correctly, biology had it out for me. Worse still, my parents had no handle on teen chat and no idea how to talk to their tween about anything. We all suffered in silence, except for my occasional hormonal rage outburst.
One day I was a little girl and the next day I was trying to hide the ever growing hair on my legs (that my dad refused to let me shave). It felt like it took years for my boobs to come in. I mean seriously all I needed until I was 15 was an undershirt. Of course, I wore a training bra in hopes they’d get the hint and start to grow. The only purpose it served was for Jason and Mike, my former best basketball buddies, to perfect their bra strap snapping technique. I was stuck in status breast buds for like 5 years. Then they came in like gangbusters overnight. I definitely didn’t peak until college.
But I got my period the summer before 8th grade. It would have read like a Judy Blume book had it not have happened in a McDonald’s bathroom with no warning whatsoever! Wtf!!’
But here I am again… going through puberty. Well, not me exactly but there is definitely puberty happening in my house. The thing is, I don’t want the traumatic experience of middle school to be my legacy so we’ve been trying to ease into it.I’ve been talking to my girls about everything since they were toddlers. The more you know and all that ish. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and I think preparation makes everything easier, so we read ahead and I try to teach my girls about whats coming their way before it actually descends upon them like it did me in the bathroom at McDonalds.
How to talk to your tween about everything. The art of teen chat.
Aside from talking about everything.all the time. My husband teases me that my girls are going to start refusing to get in the car with me because it always seems like we have the most “teachable moments” in the car. You know, when they are trapped. For example, the other day, I was taking my 12-year-old to the doctor for a viral infection. This prompted her to ask me if I had missed my yearly gynecological appointment that she knew I had last week. Bingo, teen chat moment! Teachable moments for the win.
I explained that I had to cancel because I started my period and that would just be rude. Then, I gave her an impromptu explanation about what happens at a gynecological visit because it dawned on me that many women don’t like going. I figured if she knew what she’ll be in for, it would alleviate some of the stress when the time comes to go. I explained that they are doctors and it’s just another body part and it’s necessary to be proactive in our advocacy for our own health.
Which turned into the conversation about sex and that when the time comes that she is ready, I would hope that she comes to me so we can discuss it (without judgment) and she can be prepared and safe. I explained HPV and how most birth control only prevents teen pregnancy in the USA, you need condoms to prevent the spread of STDs. I went on to tell her that HPV is usually undiagnosed but can cause infertility so condoms should always be on hand.
I talk to my tween about everything because if I don’t someone else will.
Then that segued into a conversation about the different types of birth control that are available to women. I may or may not have told her about the time when the patch made my entire ass break out in a rash because I ( like she) am allergic to Band-Aids. I also, may or may not have told her how the Nuva Ring popped out because…cervical fluid and she may have died on the spot laughing. But that’s how we roll. The more you know. Teen chat is not so hard if you just be yourself, know your child and follow the cues.
Anyways, not everyone is as comfortable talking to their children about all of this so thank goodness there are so many tools to help parents these days. We use Amaze.org for the videos and love the American Girl books for written reference.
Here are some of our favorite American Girl books that we use at our house.
American Girl: The Care and Keeping of You 1 The Body Book for Younger Girls*
American Girl: The Care and Keeping of You 2 The Body Book for Older Girls*
American Girl: The Care and Keeping of Us A Sharing Collection for Girls and Their Moms
American Girl: Friends making them and Keeping them*
American Girl: Stand Up for yourself and your friends*
A Smart Girl’s Guide: Babysitting*
A Smart Girl’s Guide: Manners*
A Smart Girl’s Guide: Drama, Rumors, & Secrets*
And for the first-time ever, American Girl is taking its expertise on puberty and adolescence and extending it to boys and their parents with a new title: Guy Stuff: The Body Book for Boys. If you have a son, this is the perfect book. Guy Stuff tackles everything boys need to know about their developing bodies and minds from healthy eating, bad breath and shaving to pubic changes, moodiness and expressing emotions.
Written by Dr. Cara Natterson, board-certified pediatrician, NY Times bestselling author of AG’s Care and Keeping of You series, and mom of 12-year-old son and 14-year-old girl, tackles every subject in a down-to-earth and approachable manner will help spark conversations between parents and their sons, including those most reluctant to talk about what they’re going through.
Now, I know this is a hard time to be a mom or dad to a child in the in-between years. Just remember, while you are trying to figure them out and this new stage of parenthood, they are trying to figure out this new stage of life, living in a new body with hormones and thoughts they never had before. It’s hard for everyone concerned but it doesn’t have to be horrible. It doesn’t have to be.Through the generosity of American Girl, I am providing the * marked books in the Smart Girl’s Guide Series listed above and the new Guy Stuff: The Body Book for Boys to one lucky reader. It won’t completely eliminate the awkwardness we all feel in the tween years but it will definitely help make those conversations easier and make your tween feel more comfortable in their own skin by explaining some of what’s going on with them right now. Spoiler alert: It’s all normal. Enter below for your chance to win.Disclosure: I was provided some of the books in this series by American Girl to review but we already owned a few of them and all opinions about how to speak to your tween about everything are my own.
13-year-old Latino Boy, Christian Dorscht, Shot at by Off-Duty LAPD Cop for Walking on Lawn
On Tuesday, an off-duty LAPD officer fired his weapon during a confrontation with a 13-year-old Latino boy, Christian Dorscht, who had allegedly “walked on his lawn”. That was enough to set off a chain of events that could have left one child dead for simply being a teenager. As a parent, what would you do if Christian Dorscht were your child? (more…)
New National Geographic Kids Channel & Bonus ROKU
Update: The winner of the Roku Streaming Stick is Jessica Escobar. Thanks to everyone for entering.
As many of you know, I’m an ambassador for National Geographic Kids. For a second consecutive term I have been named a Nat Geo Kids Insider! Woohoo for me! Well, tonight that means woohoo for you too!
You already know that National Geographic is an amazing non-profit organization that provides awesome educational books, magazines and toys with amazing photos for our children. My girls truly love and enjoy their National Geographic magazine and books. Well, great news, recently National Geographic launched a channel on Roku, featuring a ton of exciting NGK videos that are perfect for your curious kids.
The new National Geographic channel is a video channel for curious kids and families featuring fun facts, animals and adventure. The subscription channel includes award-winning animated series like Mama Mirabelle, Iggy Arbuckle, Toot and Puddle and humorous, live action programming like Amazing Animals and Making Stuff. My girls think it’s awesome and the photography mesmerizes them.
National Geographic Kids’ mission is to inspire kids of all ages to learn about the world and provide quality video programming that sparks a child’s curiosity. With a focus on nature, animals, science, global cultures, exploration and adventure, NG Kids wants to keep the whole family engaged with videos even mom & dad like to watch! Then, continue to learn together by getting outdoors and exploring the great, big world around you.
The Roku Streaming Stick makes it easy to enjoy the best selection of streaming entertainment on TV like Netflix and the National Geographic channel as well as many more. With its compact design, the Roku Streaming Stick plugs discreetly into the HDMI port for a streamlined look that’s ideal for wall-mounted TVs like mine.
Once plugged in, the Roku Streaming Stick lets consumers start streaming from more than 1,500 channels of movies, TV episodes, music, news, sports, kids’ shows and free programming – more channels and genres than any other TV streaming device – and all in up to 1080p HD video.
And in celebration of National Geographic’s new channel, the great people at Roku are providing one Roku Streaming Stick for me to giveaway. So, this is a flash giveaway. It will last from now until Monday, July 14, 2014 at 8 pm EST on Monday night. To enter all you have to do is follow me on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/DeborahCruz/ and leave a comment below telling me your favorite show and the Pinterest account you followed me from.
I’m a National Geographic Kids Insider and was provided a Roku streaming stick to give to one of you.
Interview with #DWTS Pros : Gleb Savchenko, Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten
Thank you to Disney and ABC for inviting me to Los Angeles on an all-expense paid trip, in exchange for coverage of Disney’s the Nutcracker and the Four Realms and the #ABCTVEVENT event. I was hosted by Disney for the #DisneysNutcrackerEvent and given the opportunity to Interview with #DWTS Pros but all opinions are my own.
Have you watched Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) or Dancing with the Stars Juniors (DWTS juniors) and thought to yourself, “I can do that?”
Yeah, me neither. You all know I trip over my own feet and let’s be honest, I’m dangerous. People can get hurt… most likely me!
READ ALSO: Disney’s the Nutcracker and the Four Realms Movie
Due to the break heard around the Internet, consequently I pretty much dance like Elaine Benes and Frankenstein had a sweet little pirate baby. It’s not graceful or pretty.
Photo Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin But a couple weeks ago, I was invited to Los Angeles by Disney for the Nutcracker and the Four Realms red carpet premiere event and the bonus was a session at Pro Dance L.A. owned by Gleb Savchenko and his wife, Elena Samodanova. Located at 744 N Fairfax, Los Angeles, CA,90046 and offers classes to dancers of all ages.
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you”
I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing “Dancing with the Stars” pros and “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors” mentors Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten and Gleb Savchenko. Most noteworthy, about that dance lesson, I’ll write more about that in another post but let’s just say, most noteworthy, there’s video!
Photo Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin My girls are dancers. First of all, they’ve been dancing ballet since they were 2-years-old. Consequently, they love it and they work hard at it. As a result, they were very excited that I would have the chance to interview Gleb, Alan and Brandon. I was impressed by the words of inspiration these pros had for young dancers.
Photo Credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin Interview with #DWTS Pros; Gleb Savchenko, Alan Bersten and Brandon Armstrong
Above all, what messages would each of you give to young dancers who are following their dance dreams?
Brandon Armstrong: Never give up.
Gleb Savchenko: Never give up. Just push forward and you know, anything is possible.
Alan Bersten: If you can dream it, you can achieve it.
Gleb Savchenko: I grew up in Moscow with no money in literally one-bedroom apartment with my parents and I do the most amazing show in the whole world. So, just dream and work really hard. Never give up. Don’t let anybody push you down. You know, stand your ground and just, just pour your soul and heart into what you do.
Alan Bersten: I think that’s beautiful. I think if you’re passionate about it, no one can stop you. If anyone is passionate about anything, no matter what, they’re going to be stubborn about it. And I think that’s actually one of the best qualities you can have them especially in a dancer because there’s a lot of nos before you get a yes.
Brandon Armstrong: I think that it is so important to be unique.
Alan Bersten: But be unique, especially all you kids out there, be unique. Don’t look at somebody else and say I want to be Gleb. You know, take all the things that you think are great about him and develop yourself but still be yourself. Be unique.
How do you teach kids about failure?
Alan Bersten: I think if the kid knows that they’re doing their best nothing else matters. I grab that for myself and it’s great to know that if you do try your hardest and you feel like you did your best, nothing else should matter.
Gleb Savchenko: Sometimes for kids it’s really hard because they’re kids. My daughter, she’s going to be eight. She dances but she’s not really into it. You have to really want it. You have to be inside of you, there has to be that competitive feeling.
My girls are ballet dancers. How would you recommend I encourage my daughters and build up their self-esteem?
Gleb Savchenko: This is a good question. That’s a really good question. Just tell her to keep doing what she is doing and try really hard. It’s never always a number one, number two and number three. There is a process of becoming someone. And through that process, you have a lot of down times, a lot of failures, and a lot of losses. Before I won a competition, I lost five years.
Alan Bersten: I think that struggle is what really builds the character and the willpower.
Gleb Savchenko: It builds your character. It builds the want and the willpower.
Alan Bersten: If you can make it through that struggle, that’s when you know you want to do it.
Brandon Armstrong: I grew up doing the same thing. I grew up as a studio rat. I would be in the studio 10 hours, two hours of jazz, two hours of ballet and I would just get pounded all day long. The thing that my dad used to tell me that everybody else, all the people that I looked up to whether it was Misty Copeland in the ballet world or Travis Smalls in the contemporary world or hip-hop, whatever it was, they did the same thing.
Nobody gets to cut corners in this industry, especially if you want to be elite. If you want to be great at what you do, nobody can cut corners. My dad was a little bit more tough love. He was a colonel in the military. He’d to be like “you’ve got to suck it up because all the people that you’re looking up to did the same thing. It’s time for you to decide if you want to do it or if you don’t. And realize that everybody’s working hard.
Finally, did you ever have a teacher who told you that you couldn’t succeed? What would you tell a child who has been told that they can’t do something?
Gleb Savchenko: I was doing gymnastics since I was five until I was eight and I grew really quickly and that’s exactly what my trainer came to my parents, actually my grandma, and said he’s going to be too tall. Take him out.
Brandon Armstrong: Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. This guy just got drafted in the NFL and he has no arm. He’s leading the league in picks. There are ways for you to be unique and to make it happen.
Alan Bersten: If someone tells you that you can’t do it, that’s when you prove them wrong.
Brandon Armstrong: Then, above all figure it out. You can be the atypical version of what you do.
Dancing with the Stars: Juniors” airs Sundays at 8|7c on The ABC Television Network or streaming or on the app. / “Dancing with the Stars” airs Mondays at 8|7c on The ABC Television Network or streaming or on the app.
READ ALSO: Exclusive interview with Misty Copeland
You can follow Pro Dance LA on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, too, for more info! There is also a YouTube page for both DWTS and DWTS: Juniors HERE.
‘DANCING WITH THE STARS: LIVE! – A NIGHT TO REMEMBER HITS THE ROAD THIS WINTER DANCING ACROSS AMERICA To buy tickets to the DWTS Tour coming to a city near you: dwtstour.com #DWTSTour
All New Show to Feature “Dancing with the Stars” Season 27 Dancers Witney Carson, Artem Chigvintsev, Val Chmerkovskiy, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, Sasha Farber, Alan Bersten, Jenna Johnson, Brandon Armstrong and More!
TV’s biggest dance show returns on tour this winter with “Dancing with the Stars: Live! – A Night to Remember” Kicking off December 15th in Columbia, SC, the show will feature fan-favorite professional and troupe dancers in a brand-new production showcasing every type of dance style as seen on ABC’s hit show Dancing with the Stars, ranging from ballroom and jazz to modern and hip-hop. Choreographed and creative directed by Emmy© Award-winning choreographer Mandy Moore and Dancing with the Stars Executive Producer Ashley Edens-Shaffer, audiences will have the opportunity to experience the excitement, glamour and glitz they see in the ballroom every Monday night live in theatres in their hometowns.
The tour delivers a spectacular night of show-stopping dance performances from world-renowned dancers including Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Witney Carson, Artem Chigvintsev, Val Chmerkovskiy, Sasha Farber, Jenna Johnson, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, Hayley Erbert and Britt Stewart, with more surprise casting to be announced.
Tickets for “Dancing with the Stars: Live!” are on sale now. To purchase tickets and to get the full list of tour dates, please visit dwtstour.com. VIP packages will be available through VIPNation.com, giving fans the chance to purchase premium tickets, meet and greet opportunities with the cast, exclusive merchandise and photo opportunities.
My Interview with #DWTS Pros; Gleb Savchenko, Alan Bersten and Brandon Armstrong was a day I’ll never forget.
Throat Punch Thursday ~”Fat Letters” Sent Home to Parents of Children with High BMI
What Would you do if the school sent home a fat letter to inform you that your child’s BMI was elevated.
Elementary schools in North Andover, Massachusetts are now sending home “Fat Letters” to the parents of children who have BMI’s under the 5th percentile or above the 85th percentile. The problem is that BMI doesn’t take into account muscle mass. Aside from being embarrassing, it can be hurtful and lead to teasing because let’s face it, kids talk. There is nothing right about schools calculating BMIs. (more…)
Tips,Tricks & People that Every Blogger Should Know
It’s Friday and I have been meeting a lot of new up and coming bloggers and it got me to thinking, I really wish someone would have written me a how to guide when I first started. Not on just the mechanics of how to blog but who to know and who to follow and who’s fun and what not; where to find good paid opportunities and places to write for and how to pitch. I had NO idea how to pitch a piece. (more…)
An Open Letter to Babble.com in Regard to Fertility Issues
Dear Babble,What were you thinking running the article about Motherlode columnist, Amy Klein’s fertility issues, titled Should We Be Sympathetic to a 42-Year-Old’s Fertility Struggles? May I ask, were all the editors on vacation? Was there a hiatus on good judgment and common decency? Seriously, wtf were you thinking? Normally, I am a fan of Babble. Many of my friends write there and generally it’s very PG and non-threatening, a great resource for parents, but this particular post was deplorable. I know from her bio that the author is a comedienne but this shit was not funny.at.all!
And in answer to your “question” …Yeah, Hell Yeah! You should feel sympathetic to anyone’s fertility issues because it’s a problem for the person who has it whether she is 25 or 45. Just like you should feel sympathy and compassion for a rape victim, no matter what she was wearing, how drunk she was or who she was dry humping the night she was raped. The same reason you feel compassion for patients with cancer, whether they smoked every day of their life, drank themselves into oblivion or played with radiation!
You are sympathetic because you are human and you have compassion to people’s struggles. You are sympathetic because you have not lived in their shoes and don’t know their story. You are sympathetic because you shouldn’t kick a person when they are down. You are sympathetic because you don’t want to be the mean kid on the playground; the bullying asshole that everyone else hates. But, instead, you chose to let one of your writers pen a condescending post on her thoughts on fertility issues, from her fertile high horse. Nice move; not very Disney of you, at all.
“These are the days of ugly emotions. Infertility hijacks your schedule, damages your relationship with your spouse and unleashes in you terrible jealousy of other women, women who conceive easily, without thought, without drugs, without dozens of days lost to medical intervention. Women whose biggest problems are swollen feet.”
Those seem like fighting words coming from a 42-year-old woman trying to get pregnant for the first time, I thought. Surely this woman must understand that at her age fertility problems are to be expected when trying to conceive for the first time. How could she be so angry? Didn’t she see this coming?
Moreover, like so many people do when confronted with this sort of thing, I thought, ”Are we really supposed to feel sorry for a 42-year-old woman who is doing IVF when she could just adopt?”
My head nearly exploded when I read the above part of the article. Let’s be honest, I know all about link bait and controversy. In fact, I am no stranger to controversy and I know I piss people off with my strong opinions on everything from gun control to breastfeeding but I would never make fun of a person who is physically unable to do something like breastfeeding, I don’t poke fun at the mentally ill and I certainly would never interview a mother of a child who found her gun and shot himself and ridicule her because I have one thing that this article lacks; human decency.
The article began dripping of judgment and condescension, on a parenting website. This should be a safe place for moms, not a place to be shamed and ridiculed. Then the author said she was going to give the woman the benefit of an interview, for context and understanding, only the entire interview read like this; ( paraphrased; these are not direct quotes ) To be fair: I do not know this writer or her story or her issues, I am only responding to how the piece was written. She may be perfectly lovely and may have just been having an off day but this is how I felt the piece came off and many of my FB followers agree.
Amy Klein (Interviewee) : Explanation, explanation, and explanation
Author at Babble: (dripping with condescension) You should have tried to get pregnant earlier.
Author at Babble: Why don’t you adopt?
Author: I married young because I knew I wanted to get married and I wanted to have a family. In marrying so young, I made a choice that didn’t work out and I’m now divorced, but I have a beautiful daughter. It seems that often women are cornered in these ways: wait to find someone you feel truly compatible with and enter a marriage you feel as certain as possible will last but then deal with potential fertility issues, or marry young and take your chances when you’re still quite fertile. Not that it’s always an either/or situation, but still. Based on the way things have played out for you, what advice would you give to younger women when it comes to love/marriage/babies? I mentioned on Facebook a while back that women should take the time they need to try to find a truly healthy love relationship, but that if they don’t find a great partner by their mid-30′s, they should just have a baby alone.
Author at Babble: That’s why I had my baby when I was young and fertile. I am divorced now, but I have my kid. Maybe you should have thought about all of this 20 years ago…when you were still fertile.
Amy Klein (exhausted and demeaned): Goes Home.
Please, Please, Please editors, read posts before they go live. Babble, I expected more from you. We all do. This post has left a bad taste in my mouth for Babble and I am sure it has for other readers, as well. Try a little human kindness when addressing the issue of fertility.
Sincerely,
Truthful Mommy
6 Questions To Ask Before Getting A Family Dog
Dogs are awesome. We are dog people. To be fair, we love cats and guinea pigs and mostly all animals but dogs are our favorite. They can be excellent additions to any family. Saffaron, Lola and Stella are the best things that have happened to us. These furry friends stick by your side for their entire lives, giving you all the attention you need, through thick and thin, dogs just love you unconditionally. Honestly, humans don’t deserve dogs at all. They’re far too good for us; offering up all of their love without wanting anything but a few belly rubs and treats in return. If you’re considering getting a dog? Below are 6 questions to ask before getting a dog.
Having a dog to yourself is one thing – it’s completely different if you want to get one for a family. When you have kids to think about as well, you can’t make a snap decision to just get a dog. A few key questions need to be asked and answered to help you figure out if this is the right move for you and your family.
Do you have room for a dog?
Firstly, is there enough room in your house for a dog? You might have a relatively small home with a small backyard. It’s absolutely perfect for you and your family right now. There’s enough space for everyone, and the yard is just big enough for the kids to enjoy.
Unfortunately, if you add a dog into the picture, the house seems a lot smaller. There’s no space for the dog to roam around during the day – particularly if it’s a fairly big one. You can’t really find anywhere to keep a dog bed and there’s certainly not enough room outside for your pooch to have a little house.
Consequently, some families might be unable to handle a dog because there’s not enough room in the home. This does depend on the type of dog you’re thinking about getting – smaller ones don’t need that much room. However, we will talk more about dog breeds later on!
Are you able to look after the dog?
How busy is your daily schedule? Are you packed to the brim with things to do every single day? If you already struggle to find time for yourself – which a lot of parents do struggle to do – then a dog may complicate things. Suddenly, you have another responsibility on your hands.
Can you walk the dog regularly? Will you be able to keep them groomed? Can you ensure they’re given all the attention they deserve? Is a puppy financially feasible for you; can you afford to keep them fed, loved, and rewarded with treats when they need them? These things may not always be cheap or convenient to provide but you need to consider them. For example, you might think treats are not a necessity but Treatibles are great for training, and behavioral adjustments, some are good for joint pain, tummy issues and relieving anxiety.
Yes, you can argue that your kids should give them lots of attention. In reality, they are the ones that probably asked you to get a dog anyway! But, what if they are too young to walk the dog by themselves? They’re too little to give the dog a bath or even to feed it. So, all the responsibility falls on your shoulders. One thing you can do is invest in the best gps dog fence, if you have a lot of open space for your dog to roam, as this will lessen the responsibility of exercise.
Okay, what if your kids are old enough to help you look after the dog. In this scenario, you still have to give them loads of attention when the kids are at school. There are many hours in the day when a dog will be left without your children to take care of it. Can you find the time in these hours to give them attention? If you work a full-time job, the answer will be a resounding no.
Please, please, please take this into consideration before getting a dog for your family. As you can imagine, time is the number one reason people surrender dogs. Owners simply can’t find the time to give a dog the attention and care it deserves. Don’t be one of those people that gets a dog and has to give it up. It’s not nice for the dog to be taken to a new home, only to end up being abandoned at an animal shelter.
If you want a family pet, but don’t have the time to devote many hours a day to that pet, think about getting a cat. They’re super low-maintenance and can be left for hours on end with no issues. As long as there’s water, food, and a cat flap, the cat is fine by themselves.
Why do you want a family dog?
Ask yourself, why do you want a family dog? It might seem like a strange question, but consider what has pushed you to think about bringing a furry friend to your family. Is this a decision you and your partner have been thinking about for a long time? Perhaps you had dogs before when you were growing up, and you’d love to have one for your new family to enjoy. That’s a perfectly viable reason to get a dog; you want a new addition to the family!
But, what if you’re getting one because your kids have pestered you about it. They’ve been saying they want a dog, so you’re finally thinking about caving in. If this isn’t something you and your partner are too keen on, don’t give in.
It’s never a good idea to get anything because your kids really want it. Kids are kids, meaning they like different things all the time. They may love the idea of a dog right now, but will they still be as interested in a few weeks or months?
A dog is a long-term investment for you and your kids. Be sure that this isn’t just a phase before you decide to get one.
Can you afford a dog?
After answering the previous questions, you’ve reached a pivotal point in the dog acquiring process. Can you actually afford the financial commitment that comes with owning a dog?
The initial costs will vary depending on how you get your dog. If you adopt, it’s completely free. If you purchase a dog from a breeder, prices depend on the specific breed of dog as well as the caliber of the breeder.
However, these aren’t the main costs you should be worried about. Instead, you need to question if you can afford the ongoing costs of dog ownership. So, how much is this going to cost? Well, you should start by considering everything you need to buy:
There’s a lot you need to think about, and the costs can add up to anywhere between $1,500 to $9,900 per year. That’s a lot of money that you might not be able to afford. Of course, it all depends on your financial situation. Some of you may do the calculations and figure out that you can definitely afford an extra mouth to feed. If that’s the case, you’re one step closer to owning a dog.
If you can’t afford a dog, think about how you can save money to possibly get one in the future!
What dog breeds are good for kids/families?
You can financially afford a dog, but you’re still not ready to go out there and pick one up. Some dogs are better suited to families and young children than others. For the sake of your kid’s safety, you need to consider breeds that are suitable. Here are some of the options you should think about:
Labrador retrievers
Labs are always popular family dogs because they have the perfect temperament for kids. They’re very patient, playful and full of love. As you can see on https://chocolatelabradorretriever.ca/lab-retriever-michigan/, you can get labrador retrievers in a range of colors, with chocolate labs being very popular these days. They do grow to be quite big, but they always retain a sense of playfulness that makes them perfect family companions.
Boxers
Boxers are great medium-sized dogs, so they’re great to have around kids. There’s never any worry about the dogs knocking over young children, and they have a very fun-loving, bright and active demeanor that makes them ideal for a family setting. While originally a working dog, these dogs are constantly eager to play games and have fun outside. They’re a great option if you want a pet to occupy your kids for hours on end.
Boston terriers
A small dog breed that works really well with families and children is Boston terriers. The great thing about Boston terriers is that they are pretty low-maintenance. They don’t need to be walked that much, and they’re more than happy to stay inside for hours a day. Make no mistake about it, this doesn’t mean they’re lazy creatures. They are still keen to play with your kids, they’re just easier to look after than many other dogs.
Should you adopt or buy a dog?
The final question is whether or not you should buy a dog. It is a good idea to adopt whenever possible. However, if you are looking for a specific breed of dog – or you want a puppy from birth to raise in your family, buying from a breeder might be the better option. After asking yourself all of these crucial questions, you will know if a family dog is the right choice or not. Furthermore, you should also know what breed of dog is the best, and whether or not you should adopt it. It is so important to think this decision through as carefully as you can. Don’t rush into things as it could mean you get a dog that ends of being put up for adoption very soon.
What would you add to our list of questions to ask before getting a dog?