I
just realized that while children are dogs -- loyal and
affectionate -- teenagers are cats.
It's so easy to be a dog owner...
You feed it, train it, boss it around. It puts its head on
your knee and gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt
painting. It bounds indoors with enthusiasm when you call it.
Then
around age 13,
your adoring little puppy turns into a big old cat...
When you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed, as if
wondering who died and made you emperor.
Instead of dogging your doorsteps, it disappears.
You won't see it again until it gets hungry --
then it pauses on its sprint through the kitchen long enough
to turn its nose up at whatever you're serving.
When you reach out to ruffle its head, in that old
affectionate gesture, it twists away from you,
then gives you a blank stare, as if trying to
remember where it has seen you before.
You, not
realizing that the dog is now a cat, think something must be
desperately wrong with it. It seems so antisocial, so distant,
sort of depressed. It won't go on family outings.
Since
you're the one who raised it, taught it to fetch and stay and
sit on command, you assume that you did something wrong.
Flooded with guilt and fear, you redouble your efforts to make
your pet behave.
Only now
you're dealing with a cat, so everything that worked before
now produces the opposite of the desired result. Call it, and
it runs away. Tell it to sit, and it jumps on the counter. The
more you go toward it, wringing your hands, the more it moves
away.
Instead of continuing to act like a dog owner, you can learn
to behave like a cat owner. Put a dish of food near the door,
and let it come to you.
But remember that a cat needs your help and your affection
too. Sit still, and it will come, seeking that warm,
comforting lap it has not entirely forgotten. Be there to open
the door for it.
One day
your grown-up child will walk into the kitchen, give you a big
kiss and say, "You've been on your feet all day. Let me
get those dishes for you."
Then
you'll realize your cat is a dog again.
(Author
Unknown)
Reprinted
from www.InspirationLine.com
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