Whenever I visit my dog in the back yard, I am reminded of the somewhat creepy parent-child nature of our relationship. She’s usually really excited to see me in her home — at first. She starts to exhibit signs of nervousness and annoyance (both atypical of my dog) as I linger, and she looks especially uneasy if I come close to “her things” (dog house, squirrel carcass, etc.). She finally tries to nudge me toward the back door or the front gate if I’ve overstayed my welcome. This is incredibly cute, as you might imagine, but also a bit disturbing. Well, it was until I put it into the proper context, with her being the grown, independent child and me being the parent to whom she feels she has something to prove.
Sometimes I think that I don’t ever need to have children; between being a supervisor and being a pet owner, I’ve experienced a substantial portion of that whole emotional spectrum.