I want to be more like my dog

There is one member of my family that everyone loves. I wish it were me, but sadly it is the family dog skyler. When the kids get home the first thing they do is greet and pet the dog and enthusiastically play with him. When my wife gets home, she does the same thing. My wife never asks me what I want for dinner (we all pretty much fend for ourselves in my house), but she never forgets to feed the dog. The dog gets more attention and love than anyone. He has never paid a bill, never cooked a meal, never driven them anywhere, never fixed a cut or scrape, never tucked them into bed and read them a story, never given them $100.00 to go shopping or $20 to see a movie, and sure never bought them a car! He is a great watch dog, if someone were to try to rob our house, he would surely watch them do it. Why does he get all the love and attention?

We all know why, the dog is the only one who gives everyone unconditional love. When someone gets home he practically jumps out of his skin he is so glad to see you. He runs to greet you, acts like he has not seen you in years, wags his tail fast enough to create a breeze, never nags or complains when you feed him the same thing every day, never finds fault or criticizes you, doesn't care what you wear, or whether you have combed your hair or brushed your teeth, and gives you the feeling that you are the most important thing in his life. How can I ever match up to that?

I have to discipline them when they do wrong, lay down rules and be sure they are followed, make tough decisions about what they can and can not do, and generally make their lives more difficult. I can't be like the dog, but I can be more like him.

Growing up, we were not a demonstrative family. I saw other kids whose mom's and dad's would hug them and kiss them, and it seemed odd because that is just not how I was raised. My mom loved us enough, but as a divorcee and a working mom with a full time job, there was not time or opportunity to be "huggy kissee". After a while, it just becomes the norm, and when people invade your space you recoil.

When my mom in law welcomed me into the family with a hug and kiss my reaction was not enthusiastic. Nothing against her, I'm lucky to have great In-Laws, I just wasn't "ready" for it.

I'm ready now. I give my girls as much love as I can. I rarely go a day without telling them how important they are to me. I try to tell them at least once a day how much I love them, and I hug them and kiss them whenever they let me. The older they get the less they let me. It used to be my oldest could not go to bed until i gave her "animal" kisses (I had to impersonate a caterpillar, butterfly, rabbit, whatever she could think of)

I still need to work on the unconditional part. It is hard not to find fault. It is important to say no and to lay down ground rules. I need to do a better job of doing that without being mad about it.

If my kids had to choose one of us to die, me or the dog (horrible thought), I know The dog would be history, but it would be nice if when my wife or kids got home the first thing they would do is hug me and kiss me, not the dog!

I'm working on it. We should all be more like dogs (except the butt sniffing thing).