When you have kids you always assume that by giving them stuff that you would have loved as a child (but were deprived of) you will ensure they live in a state of perfect contentment. In the back of my mind I knew this wasn’t going to work forever, but I thought it might run until they were at least at school….
As a child I would have loved a pet like Dog. A big, friendly beast who would follow me around, faithfully fetch a ball and wrestle with me. I assumed that Big Sis and Dog were going to have just this kind of relationship. Today these illusions were shattered when Big Sis, after some thought, announced that she wanted “a dog”.
This puzzled me slightly and I pointed at Dog and said “You’ve got one”. She disagreed firmly on this point - “Nooooo”, she cried, “I want a little dog that sits on my knee - and I’ll pat it when I watch television!”. She followed this up by pointing an accusatory finger at ever faithful Dog and saying “He’s mummy’s dog”. And I suppose in a way she’s right.
Dog
