Do you ever seriously wish you could adopt someone else's child?

I get like that all the time when my daughter has friends over. I don’t have the sad depressed stage, but I do notice the different feeling in the house. I simply love the energy. Maybe it is because I grew up in a large family. dunno….
I think it is my love for kids that fuels this significantly.

See, that’s the weird thing for me, @blueiiznh- most of the time, I can’t stand other people’s kids; they just annoy me. But man, I just adore that girl, and I hate it when she has to leave.

We chose not to have kids, but it might have been nice to have a few. I love my two year old nephew so much. He’s a complete dynamo of eternal energy and I’m exhausted when he leaves. But god he’s so much fun. But I don’t think I would adopt at this stage in my life. A bit earlier, yes.

No. But I know what you mean

I always wish I could adopt the kids who are hurting because of their current family situation. Mostly it’s young people I get to know here on Fluther, and often they’re not really even ‘kids’ (older teens and twenty-somethings). I wish they had the parents they deserve, or at the very least, I wish I could hug them all and tell them they’ll be okay.

No, I always completely enjoy being an aunt and now a step grandmother. They are cute and all that, but I don’t miss them when they leave. When I lived in the NT of Australia though it was a different story. As @augustlan says there were so many I wanted to bring home with me because their family life was so terrible. Many did come and go over the years, stay a couple of days or a week but never anything legal or permanent.

YES

Sometimes…. I just love to have kids around the house.

We have two of our own and my wife always said that she’s done with having more. So every now and then, for instance when friends of ours get cute lovely babies, I feel somewhat jealous.

Then, reality sinks in and I realize that with children, a responsibility comes and we would likely not be as happy a family as we are now, if we have to spread our time and resources over more children.

If – god forbid – something would happen to my sister in law or certain friends of ours, we arranged that we will ‘take on’ their children. Then we would all of a sudden have three or four kids more to look after. They would be welcome, of course.

Well you see, i’m funny like that Abby, I worship & adore my kids, the sun shines outta their arseholes, but other folks’sssssss actual real life kids…nah, fucking brats.
While this may be an extreme view, it’s mine see, so there! :p

Kids, no. Dogs and cats, yes!

Last weekend my friend asked me if I could come over and help her wash her 2 dogs. She’s had some trouble with her knee, lately and it’s hard for her to do it alone. So I went over there and then she asked me if I would be willing to trim her older dog’s back end. He has arthritis and has a bit of trouble keeping himself clean. I told her I would be delighted and that I had a lot of experience cleaning the back ends of animals (I do a lot of dog and cat sitting). So first we washed him, then I got in there with the scissors and started clipping away. When I saw that the “light at the end of the tunnel” was not very clean, I got in there with a baby wipe and started clearing away the dingle berries. She was holding up his tail so I could get a better view, but she was gasping and kept asking me how I could stand doing this. I told her it didn’t bother me a bit, and I was used to it, but I would not want to change any poopy diapers on a kid, now that would be awful.

Suffice it to say, the doggie’s back end is now clipped and clean and ready for business!

Yes, my precious niece who had the bad luck to be born to two addicts for parents.

Aaaaaaand now I get a text message telling me they’re moving to Florida next month. FUCK! I won’t get to see my third daughter anymore. I am simultaneously depressed and pissed off.

@WillWorkForChocolate Aw, that sucks. :(

Brande brought home a little friend from school. She’s a delight! They were having a picanic outside and I went out to tell them something. AnnaBell said, “Shhhh! My foot’s asleep!”