Come on, folks.
Let's get cat-ified-- preschool-style.
Come on, now.
What's up, Mojophiles?
It's me, it's Jackson.
There's a lot of stories out there
that are surfacing that revolve around children and animals,
and not good things happening.
And you can't blame a young child
for wanting to grab things.
And you can't blame a cat or a dog
for defending what's theirs.
So it comes down to you guys, as parents,
to make sure that you're creating the best
outcome for everyone involved, whether they've
got two legs or four legs.
And this should go without saying,
but number one, that would be supervise kids and animals
at all times.
Kids under the age of six, specifically,
don't even have the motor coordination to approach
an animal and not pull tail and pull hair and ears and whatnot.
They just don't have those skills.
So that's important that we supervise them.
But also, it's never too young to start
talking about respecting other forms of life.
The easiest thing to say is, don't forget,
Sparky has feelings too.
One of the ways that you can help
is use the proper language when talking
about your animal in your home, your animal companions.
They're not its.
Don't call your dog or your cat it.
It is a suitcase.
It is a baseball.
It is a guitar.
It is not an animal with a beating heart and a thought
process and deep emotions.
Right?
Now, number three.
Let's teach our kids the basics of body language.
You never go up to a dog and pet them
without asking their guardian first.
That's very important.
But how do we approach cats?
Kids should know the basics.
If a cat is wagging their tail, we don't go up to the cat.
That's not how a cat says I love you.
That's how a cat says, I'm getting a little ticked off.
They should know to respect their bubble a little bit,
letting them know what it looks like when
they have big eyes, right?
When cats have big bowling ball eyes, that means, I'm scared.
When their ears go flat, I'm scared.
When they back themselves into a corner, when
their tail is swishing, I'm scared.
And when a cat says I'm scared, that also can mean,
two steps later, I'm getting kind of angry.
Number four, you can modify your environment
so the cat can get away from the kids.
And when there are kids in the house,
that cat should have access to a cat superhighway
that goes around that room.
Not only does it get them away from the kids,
but more importantly, it gives them
that view of what is a pretty alien being, right?
And now the cat can get up high, look down and go,
oh, I see how that thing goes, without kidzilla
coming at the cat, right?
From a safe distance they get to observe, make mental notes.
I see how to approach this being.
I see how to deal with this being.
Just because I'm saying, hey, use common sense,
supervise, do all these things, I'm
not saying that kids and animals shouldn't
live in the same place.
Of course not.
Every child should grow up with animals in their lives.
This basic principle of instilling
empathy and compassion in your child
so when they grow up they respect all living beings,
that happens with the exposure to animals as a young child.
For your homework, parents of kids
and wanting to have animals in your home, number one,
supervise at all times.
Number two, teach compassion, teach empathy.
And number three, teach the basics
of body language and vocalizations, right?
Number four would be modify your environment.
And hey, if you've got any comments,
if you've got any additions, parents,
I'm only a parent of animals, man.
I don't have any kids my own.
So if you are a parent, and you've
got some really great tips, I want to hear from you, man.
Go ahead and give me some comments.
Subscribe to this page while you're at it.
Hey, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, we are everywhere.
We are TeamCatMojo.
People, it has been so much fun the past couple of weeks,
getting all of the feedback I'm getting.
I really feel-- you feel the cat snowball effect happening?
Because I definitely do.
Also, in San Diego if you're around,
I will be working with San Diego Humane that day.
The Cats Uncaged Tour will be hitting that town.
And that is going to be a good deal of fun as well.
Again, if you subscribe, or if you go to my website
to get all this information, follow the links below.
All right.
That was a mouthful.
But hey, take care of yourself, take care of your children,
and take care of your animals, because they all
depend on one another, OK?
All right.
Until the next time, all light, all love, all mojo to you,
baby.
[KISS] Love you.
[MUSIC PLAYING] I'm not a bad cat.
You're a bad cat.
I'm not a bad cat.
Your a bad cat.
I'm just misunderstood.
Meow.