The Cat Years
I just realized that while children are dogs -- loyal and 
affectionate-- teenagers are cats. It's so easy to be a dog owner. You 
feed it, train it, boss it around.  It puts its head on your knee and 
gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting.  It bounds indoors 
with enthusiasm when you call it.
     
Then around age 13, your adoring little puppy turns into a big old cat.
When you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed, as if wondering
who died and made you emperor.  Instead of dogging your doorsteps,
it disappears.  You won't see it again until it gets hungry -- then
it pauses on its sprint through the kitchen long enough to turn its
nose up at whatever you're serving.  When you reach out to ruffle
its head, in that old affectionate gesture, it twists away from
you,then gives you a blank stare, as if trying to remember where it
has seen you before.
     
You, not realizing that the dog is now a cat, think something must be 
desperately wrong with it.  It seems so antisocial, so distant, sort of 
depressed.  It won't go on family outings.
     
Since you're the one who raised it, taught it to fetch and stay and sit
on command, you assume that you did something wrong.  Flooded with
guilt and fear, you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave. 
     
Only now you're dealing with a cat, so everything that worked before now 
produces the opposite of the desired result.  Call it, and it runs away.
Tell it to sit, and it jumps on the counter.  The more you go toward
it, wringing your hands, the more it moves away.
     
Instead of continuing to act like a dog owner, you can learn to 
behave like a cat owner.  Put a dish of food near the door, and let 
it come to you. But remember that a cat needs your help and your 
affection too. Sit still, and it will come, seeking that warm, 
comforting lap it has not entirely forgotten.
Be there to open the door for it.
     
One day your grown-up child will walk into the kitchen, give you a
big kiss and say, "You've been on your feet all day.  Let me get
those dishes for you."Then you'll realize your cat is a dog again.
Author Unknown...
... One VERY nice thing about Cats - They DON'T BARK!
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