Reply To: Going off the Derech

mom12-I think there are probably common threads to these kids, like wanting pets, escaping etc. Rejecting everything as ‘nonsense’ is so common, my son says the same thing.

I said no to the dog, but my son has been asking for all kinds of pets for years, saying it will help him to ‘learn better’. Originally, I didn’t want anything, and said no to everything (I cringe at the thought of having pets, truthfully). But, he convinced me (or tricked me) into believing it would help him learn. So we have had all the types of animals over the years, that are popular here in Israel (in the yard, of course), like gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, turtles, fish, birds and even a chicken! But I finally had my limits with these animals, with them dying and no one wanting to take responsibility for them, so I said ‘no dog’. And guess what, when I questioned my son why he quit learning after I gave in and got him all these animals to help him learn, he said, ‘Bc you said no to a dog, and that’s what I REALLY wanted”. Can you believe it? Anyway, he said, he did learn better when he had the animals (not sure it’s true), but he’s not obligated to keep on learning just bc he had them.