Bad Habits

Obviously, kids pick up the habits of their parents. For this reason, I try to hide all my bad habits from my son (not that I have a ton, but for example, I try not to swear around him). Lately I have noticed something that he has picked up that I am unhappy about.

Let me first say that we have a spirited dog and a possibly demon-possessed cat. And when you have animals that are spirited and/or evil, they must be disciplined. The cat, specifically, has proven herself incapable of learning. The only way I can really alert my animals that what they are doing (eating the couch, pooping on the floor, chewing up my flowers, hissing and scratching at me, etc) is wrong is to firmly and loudly say NO.

Well, lately I have seen Fox, who is now 26 months old, shake his finger and holler "NOOO!" when the animals are going about their business. And I don't like it. But what can I do? If the dog is pooping, I have to try and stop her. But I wish Fox didn't see me walking around yelling and shaking my finger at the pets. I want him to treat them kindly and I want him to know that we deal with problems by talking, not shouting at others. But these dang animals seem to be doing all they can to make sure that lesson is disrupted.