comment: >
  
  Ugh, sorry to hear that. Was the goal post always moved & the standards always arbitrary too?
context: Yes. From my observations, little kids are generally not good with pets anyway. Kids are too abrupt and don't know how to treat animals correctly. Cant say if this behavior is from parenting or lack of, but it seems prevalent. >
  
  I would say a lot of it, depending on the age, is parenting.  However, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is 'bad' parenting, could just be that there have never been animals in that kid's life TO learn from.
  Kids have to be taught how to respect animals ('if a cat hisses at you, leave it alone' type of stuff), and many parents don't do that, sadly. >
  
  My mom got me 2 puppies at age 9, I had not even asked for. Obviously, I was still super stoked. Within days the constant guilt tripping on not caring for them adequately started. I had zero concept of caring for a dog or even myself. It filled me with constant anxiety that she was going to “give them to someone who cares” if I even missed one walk or whined when I had to pick up poop outside. >
  
  This brings back bad memories.  I wasn't that young (teenage years) but my mom would say things like that to me if I didn't do things exactly as she wanted or when she wanted, because 'obviously I wouldn't adequately take care of them when she was gone'.