Woman shares 5 things about owning a dog that made her question having kids

A recent video about how raising a dog has made a woman question whether or not she could handle raising kids has drawn support from others in the same boat.

Brittney Bonfield, known on TikTok as @whata_bout_winston, is inching toward her 30s, and consuming her mind almost daily is the question of whether or not she is ready to raise a child. Those thoughts only started popping up when she got a puppy and she saw the difficulties associated with being a dog mom. Raising her golden retriever got her thinking: Could she “emotionally handle raising a human child?”

In last week’s clip, Bonfield gave examples of how the difficulties of dog training might show owners a glimpse of what it is like to raise a child—less sleep, health issues, guilt, being overbearing and going on vacation without them.

The caption reads: “Xoxo a dog mom with no chill that is mildly stressed about her biological clock.”

Crate Training

She learned quickly that training a puppy means less sleep. Her days consist of 5 a.m. wake-up calls to let her dog out followed by her full-time job. On top of that, crate training meant headaches, as it does for plenty of owners. She rarely made it through a full night’s rest, which is just a tiny glimpse into raising a child as newborns also disrupt sleep.

Health Issues

While this might not necessarily be the case for everyone, Bonfield would spend the night “researching every possibility” when her dog showed even the slightest health problem. She’d go down a rabbit hole making herself sick, wishing she could explain it to her dog.

“How do people deal with that when their baby has a cold or anything goes wrong?” she asked in the clip.

Going on Vacation

Prior to dog ownership, Bonfield didn’t understand why parents wouldn’t want a break from their kids and go on vacation, but since then, she gets it. Although she admits she gets it on a much smaller scale. She’ll go on vacation and all she thinks about is her dog. She worries about him, misses him and wishes he could be there, too.

Dog Guilt

She doesn’t understand how parents get through “mom guilt,” which is the guilt and shame some people might feel if they do not live up to their own, or others’, expectations as a parent. She already feels dog guilt. Bonfield explained she couldn’t imagine shifting her attention from her golden retriever to another dog, which is why she doesn’t think she could even get a second dog.

Helicopter

Acknowledging she is a “helicopter dog mom,” Bonfield is concerned about how she would be as a parent to a child. She feels nervous even thinking about letting her future child go on a jungle gym or having them drive.

Viewer Reactions

Bonfield told Newsweek that she has had an overwhelming number of responses of people agreeing with her.

Her honesty shined a light on how other dog parents feel. With more than 124,600 views, 12,200 likes and nearly 1,000 comments on the TikTok clip, viewers flooded the comment section to back Bonfield’s sentiment.

“Same here… I think the responsibility of raising a child is much more serious and it makes me question if I can handle it anytime soon,” one viewer said.

Another added: “I feel so seen right now; struggling with my 16-week-old golden and now questioning my desire for children lol.”

On the other hand, some see owning a pet as preparation for kids. One wrote: “Raising a dog has shown that I *can* raise a human child and now I simply refuse to do it. My pup is more than enough.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

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