5: Not Having Kids: Parallels to Dogs, Species Differences, Individuality

A while ago I answered an "ask me anything" question on our Instagram story saying that no, Sean and I do not want human kids. I was completely floored at the number of messages — and diversity of responses — I received. So Sean and I sat down to dig into the topic further! We explore ways that dogs and kids do feel very similar to us, ways they're different, if having Scout fills the "role" of a kid for us at all, and some other nuance along the way.

Some links:

• Strange Planet comic I reference (unrelated to the actual topic but I said I'd include it, so I did!)
• January Instagram post talking about how I'm no longer completely resisting the "dog mom" label
• July Instagram post about how not wanting my own kids doesn't mean I hate kids
• Books I recommend to fellow dog owners (we mention Dog is Love a few times in this episode)
• My favorite Frans de Waal books for dog owners (seriously, go read Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are!)
• Blog about why it's sometimes helpful to think about my dog as a human friend (tangentially related to the parallels of dogs and kids / us both being social mammals)