Pets- unpopular viewpoint
First, we do not dislike dogs per se. We used to have one and several family members have really cute, friendly dogs. Now the "however" part. Wife and I feel our culture is increasingly moving toward ...
Forum Discussion
streaminhope wrote:Crowe wrote:
They have no reasoning skills, and that is why we are fully responsible for them.
Who, the kids or the dogs? :B
Here are your words. They equally apply to parenting children.
Yes indeed.
Children do have reasoning skills. They can reason that what they do is right or wrong on an emotional level and why it is right or wrong. Animals only know instinctively if they will be rewarded or punished. They do not know the *why* of that reward or punishment. If they knew the *why* then we wouldn't need animals on leashes, laws regarding safety concerning them, or animal and owner training.
I'd argue that all animals have reasoning skills. They just don't necessarily "get" our social concepts. So while they can reason, things like eating at a table don't make sense.
Kids appear to reason better than animals because our social concepts are built into their system.
If we put a kid in the middle of a wolf pack, that kid would have a hard time reasoning his way through life because the social concepts are not hardwired into him.
