Proverbs 22:6 Train up a Child

Train up a child in the way he should go: and
when he is old, he will not depart from it.
--Proverbs 22:6


First a disclaimer, this is not really about one of my children so much as about one of our cats.

Background: We've always ('til now) lived in rented houses. Plus I have animal allergies. So whenever my kids would ask to have a pet, the answer was generally,"Not until we have a house of our own." We did, of course go through goldfish, then fighter fish, and finally against MY will, I might add, we got into guinea pigs (hamsters were tried and died to my joy--they are too mouse-like and I HATE RODENTS!!!

But E really wanted a guinea pig for her birthday (quite a number of years ago now.) She wheedled and Dad pushed (I think he wanted it even more than she.) So Ammon joined our household. Ammon is long gone, and we went thru Brigham, when we discovered that Ammon was actually a girl, Emma, Brigham's replacement, Leia, (sp?) as in the Princess from Star Wars, Fuma, who is still with us, and her two male babies, as she was pregnant when we got her.

Then when E's pets were dead and gone, she began working on me for a kitten. Initially I gave the same old answer, but eventually began to soften. We'd been in the same house for so long that we'd painted and generally treated it as if it were our own as much as possible. Finally, E's friend J had her over on a Sat in Aug (working on three years ago! wow!) J's Mom was a teacher in a private school out in the country. They frequently had stray cats whom the groundskeeper trapped and took to local farmers to new homes. This particular week that had happened, but then the next day, he heard mewling and discovered a litter of kittens apparantly belonging to the cat he'd trapped the day before. J's Mom took them home to nurse and give a chance at life. E phoned and asked, no, begged if we could take one of the six--to help "make it easier on J's mom." Her friend K was taking two of them! So when I went to pick E up that day, I had decided that yes, we could get one of thesse kittens. When I arrived, E showed me the kitten she wanted. It was the runt of the litter and so small, it was obviously starving to death. I didn't think it would make it, and another of the kittens seemed to have chosen me, so we took two. I force fed them with a syringe. They both grew strong and healthy. The "runt" grew to be a bit larger than the other, and is the dominant cat now (both boys).

E had promised to be in charge of the litter box. I refuse to deal with a litter box. I thought (silly me) that they would be indoor/outdoor cats and a litter box would not be needed for long, but no, my family decided (I voted the other way) that T and F would be purely indoor cats. This meant a litter box was to be permanent. I still did not want it, so E began potty training the cats to the toilet. They were doing great until F broke his leg, and the litter box had to reappear. T began to use the litter box again, too, once it reappeared, so we gave up entirely.

Today I watched T use the toilet to go! I have found the toilet unflushed a number of times and always blamed the male members of the family, but it always looks just like what T did today...so I gues it is just that one male family member, and he was NOT taught to flush (didn't have the strength back then).

I was as proud of him as ever I was toilet training a child! Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could get rid of the litter box??? Hmmmm--E, you have a new-old job this summer, I think.

So, the training worked after all.

Does this mean the proverb is really true??? I have hope. OK, kidlets, take that however you like. I love you all anyway, and you know it!