Cynical Parent

Most expenses that we incur for our children are absolutely necessary.

Food? Check.

Clothes? Check.

Housing? Check.

Diapers? Debatable…

Okay, fine, they’re necessary too.

But there’s one thing you’ll find on many parents’ lists that isn’t quite as critical: saving for a college education.

Conventional parenting advice would tell you that saving for a college education is a prudent decision that you’d be crazy to go against. After all, how can you expect your child to get a good college education if you don’t pay for it? [insert sarcastic tone]

Look, I get it. Paying for a child’s college education puts them in a good economic position when they graduate debt-free, and allows them to focus on their studies while in school without worrying about working to pay for tuition.

That’s all great, in a perfect world where you have lots of money and your son or daughter is internally motivated to get a college education.  But it’s not a perfect world.

And remember, I’m here to occasionally take a contrarian view on certain issues.

So let’s get into it.

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As you probably already know, a pregnant woman can find out the gender of her baby via ultrasound between 16 and 20 weeks into the pregnancy.

This tends to bring up the debate of:

Should I find out the gender of my baby?

This really isn’t a life or death decision by any means.  

It’s a personal preference.  

It’s between you and your spouse, and it’s a decision that really affects no one but the both of you.

With that said, I have a few thoughts on it…

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If you’re anything like us, you decided it would be a good idea to get a puppy before you started trying to conceive your first child.

After all, raising your first baby isn’t difficult enough. You like a good challenge and you were excited about the prospect of not only changing diapers, but walking a dog and cleaning up dog poop.

And keeping dog toys separate from baby toys.  And keeping the dog from attacking the baby.

YES!

You thought of all these things and getting a puppy still seemed like an AMAZING idea.

[cue the whomp-whomp-whomp downer music]

Don’t worry, I’m right there with you in the oh-shit-we-didn’t-really-think-this-through department.

Okay, so, the baby is on the way.  The puppy is maturing into a not-so-terrible dog, but still has plenty of crazy puppy tendencies.

At least, that’s how ours is.

And now you’re wondering how to get your dog ready for a baby.

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