No Change Of Heart!

Classic example of the knock-on effect. For years my daughter has been banging on at me to let her have a pet. Now, for several reasons, I have absolutely refused to give in to her pleas, no matter how desperate. These are:

• They make a mess
• They're destructive
• They smell
• They will die
• I will end up having to feed it
• Pet food smells too

I could go on and on. Basically, I can think of no other reason for getting a pet other than that becasue my daugter wants one, and believe me she has tried. I've had pleas for; a dog, a cat, a rabbit, a hamster, a gerbil, all sorts. Up until now there hasn't been any major problem in simply refusing her a pet, but what have her friends parents gone and done? They've only bought a bloody kitten. So, my daughter is playing at her friends after school today, and we have to drive over and drop off a change of clothes. Out comes the kitten, "look at the lovely kitten!", "isn't it cute?", "why can't we have one?"

You see, my duaghter's a sensitive soul, she even cries when someone dies in Emmerdale. I know that if she had a pet, it would die and she'd be broken-hearted. I'm probably only postponing the inevitable, but she can wait until she has a boyfriend before she suffers such emotional turmoil, which hopefully won't be for a long time yet. Maybe I can prevent her from having one of those as well!