Im taking a guess at starting this but im sure theres members with no kids at all so they treat there dogs as kids. My hubby and i were having a discussion last week about having childern well it turns out he doesnt want anymore he has one daughter from his first marriage and thats all he wants  it kinda bums me out but were working through it. So im beinging to think that ill have no skin kids at all in life. I told him just last night im going to start treating domino and daisey may as my kids and he just laughed he thought i wasnt being serious well as of today they go anywhere and everywhere i go besides work and the movies but there all i have as childern i was just wondering how many other members treat the pups like there childern???

Theres a lot of people who treat their pets as if they were their kids. My step Mom  treated her  yorkie like one of her kids. The dog   even had her own bedroom.   . She was the sweetest little dog. But boy was she spoiled rotten. LOL! Oh and I saw something on tv a few weeks back about people who don't have human kids, who have monkeys and treat them as if they were their kids.

My aunt didn't marry until she was around forty, and she married a man who was at least fifteen years older than her.  It was her first marriage, but his second and he already had three kids.  They agreed, and she understood she'd never have kids.  She decided to have dogs instead.  She runs a dog rescue (non-breed specific) in CA.  Currently she had five dogs of her own, generally with one or two fosters.  (One of her dogs is a rattie; other than Soph, she's the only rattie I know in person!). 

After they were married like ten years though, she started to realize she really wanted a kid... they talked long and hard and decided to try this program, I don't know what it's called, where you basically take in a kid from an orphanage in Kazakstan for a month or a summer? You provide them with stuff they can't get there; like good dental work and things.  Mainly medical.  The plan was to do this at least once, probably for a few years, and see how my aunt could handle being a mom, and then they'd talk about adopting...

Only, of course, they fell in love with the first (and only) orphan who came and stayed with them.  She was older than they were originally thinking about-- since they were older, they weren't looking at babies or toddlers, but were thinking around 8 (older, but young enough to have a few years of childhood before they became a teen).  But the girl was 11.  And the adoption process takes about a year, so she was 12 when she became my cousin, officially.

After a year, my uncle got lung cancer... he survived another year, but he died this spring. 

I feel awful for my aunt, and for my cousin who has now had to go through the deaths of three parents...

But they have each other, and that's good.  I worry a little, since my aunt has only been a mother for two years but has a teenager with emotional problems (from being instituionalized most of her life)... but they are both healing, slowly of course, and leaning on each other.  And they still have the dogs.

Okay, when I opened this thread I thought it woudl be light hearted, and I know my story really isn't... and I don't know that this story helps you any, but it seemed applicable..

But to be lighthearted again for a minute, I am childless at the moment, though I do hope to have kids, and Sophia is my little baby, definately.  The other day I was just bursting with love and pride over her, and wanting to gush about her... and realized I'd become one of those people who wants to show off picture so their dog, instead of pictures of their kids! lol. 

I don't know what it's like to want skin children, cuz I've never wanted any, and I'm sorry your man changed his mind.

Wait, you mean Fred and Alice arent' my real children?? Do THEY know that??

Oh,,,,this changes so much!!

I have two grown daughters (started very young) and I have 7 grandchildren!  3 of the grandchildren spend more time at my house than they do their Mom's.  Sally is just another kid in my mind...as needy as my two were when they were toddlers (LOL) Hubby calls her the little princess.  She goes most everywhere with us just like the grandchildren do!

Carrie

FattyMcFee,

I had the luck of being adopted at a very young age by a kind a loving couple who couldn't have children of their own. My mom is (still) my best friend. All I'm saying is that if you think you could give a loving home to a child in need..do it. To this day my mom ends phone calls and e-mails with "I chose you." It's a good feeling.

Posted By singingpilgrim on 08/21/2008 12:05 AM
I've been gone for two days and I wanted to return to this thread...
I'm glad my story helped, even if it made you cry...
And as for what others said about it just being your hubbies mood, it might be... a friend of mine, a few years ago, got pregnant by her boyfriend of only a month or two... but they said they would get married when she gave birth and he was real supportive (they were living together even though they barely knew each other-- she's one of those who flit around with guys, typically). But then she had a miscarriage... they stayed together, at first saying they were still engaged, but eventually just letting that trail off... and he went on and on, many times, about how he never, ever wanted any kids... She's always wanted kids (I've known her since the fourth grade), but she just kind of ignored him...
Well, they've been together for two years and she has cheated on him a lot (he never knew). Then an incident happened, can't say what, that bonded them and she decided not to cheat on him ever again... ONE WEEK later, they got engaged, but not because of romantic things... as a backlash from the incident, they actually found themselves in a situation where they had two choices: get married, or break up. They choice to get married.
Well, after they'd been married for two weeks, he says he wants to get pregnant this fall!
Talk about a turn around... very mood dependent...
Honestly, I don't think they should, because I KNOW they are not ready. Plus, the guy she was cheating with just a few months ago keeps text messaging her and while she's not responding, she's not telling him to GO AWAY either... sigh...
They are not the most stellar couple in the world, they both majorly have issues...
However, it is an example of a situation where the guy went from totally not wanting kids to being the one to say "let's try for a baby"...
So maybe your hubby will change his mind...
And unless he's... not very nice... once you guys actually get to that point, he'll love your child very much.
And I understand. Personally, I want a kid before I'm 25, but I'm 22 and it's not looking likely. I'm engaged, but I don't know if my fiance is alive or dead. I pray he's alive, I hope he's alive, but I know there's a very serious chance that even if he lives he's not... physically whole? (If you have a kid before you're 25 you lower your chances of breast cancer by like 20 percent I think) Plus, I have PCOS, which is the leading cause of infertility, and was told when I was 16 that I should be fertile until I'm like 25... afterwards, I'm probably going to be sterile... sighs... being told that when you're 16 really lights a fire under you to want kids young!

i pray that your soon to be husband returns safely and soon   i was told there was only 25 % chance of me ever being able to have kids and told that i slight case of PCOS its not fun so heres to hoping that it was just his mood and that he may want childern someday just not right know