[Dailydrool] Gripes and kids

[Beverly Szaton]

Once upon a time I entered the International Kennel Club show with one of my
dogs. This is a show you enter 6 weeks in advance (most of them are) and it
costs a lot to enter. Once you are there you cannot leave until 4pm. It is
one of the only "benched" shows left in the country, which means that you
have an assigned place and you have to be there all day, even after you show
and lose. People come to the show to see the show dogs, to pet them, touch
them, talk to them, buy them, talk to handlers, talk to breeders and owners,
and to spend, spend, spend, spend. So you better by heavens be in that
building with your dog until the assigned time both Saturday and Sunday.
Without checking, my college-age son came home and decided he had to go back
that Saturday.
Shockeroo, kiddy-- I'M not taking you! I have a dog show!
HOW CAN YOU CHOOSE A DOG OVER ME???
Well let's see...let me count the ways....
There was the one where you wandered off down the street with poopie diapers
around your knees and told the nice woman your mommy hit you.
There was the phone call from Jr High asking why Mr. Szaton's voice cracked
when he called his "son" in sick that day.
There was the car thing-- you remember--I loaned you my brand new car and
you backed into someone and then lied about it?
Oh and the time you encouraged Quiller to attack a skunk and then brought
him home to me.
There was the time you hit the sleeping kitty with a book and then had the
nerve to cry because he scratched you.
Remember biting your sister on the back so hard she still has the scar?

In the great scheme of things, the kid matters more to me than the dog shows
do. But on a daily level, sometimes it's not much of a choice. (The same
holds true for DH, who has the sense not to ASK if I love the dogs more than
I love him.)

I expect a lot of parents feel this way.

MomPerson (whose children still are suspicious) to Nigel, Llewis, Conley and
Cooper
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