Years ago people had hoards of kids. OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but more than 2.5. When the economy booms, babies boom as well and in this economic slump and sophisticated world people are waiting longer to have kids and having fewer kids. Even George Clooney's girlfriend said she is content with her dogs.


Pups > Kids?

Organizations are popping up to meet the need that this trend fuels. There are plenty of adoption centers for pets and store windows advertising wide-eyed pups that leave customers asking "how much is that doggy in the window?" But some companies are pushing the adoption of older dogs because as many dog-owners know, the time it takes to raise and train a puppy is just short of what it could take to raise a child. Well, kids may take a little bit more effort than that, but you get the point.

Tate Dugan, spokeswoman for FlexPet Shelter Program, an organization that assists in the adoption of older dogs, is one organization catering to the trend. The organization's parent company, Flexcin International, took a nationwide online survey of 1,250 pet owners between the ages of 21 and 30 and 61 percent said they would rather adopt an older dog over a puppy because of the time commitment. More than half (54 percent) also said they would choose a dog over a child because they aren't sure if they could handle caring for a child.


So if you don't feel like you are ready to change diapers and teach someone how to walk, fear not, you can adopt an older dog and have a companion without all of the responsibility.

There are plenty of news stories about kids in their early teens (or younger) drinking, which will happen occasionally, but it seems that a growing number of children are learning drinking habits at a very young age. As a kid, I remember knowing that alcohol was for adults. I saw my parents drink socially, but they were always drinking beer, wine or things kids hate like gin and tonics. Now, kids are living in a world where juice pong, a spinoff of the popular drinking game beer pong, is played and wine exists that tastes like yoohoo.

 

The video above depicts the kind of appeal that drinking games can have to kids and they are what... eight years old (ish)?

Keep in mind that this game isn't usually played with juice so when they hit 13, obviously it will be "cooler" to chug actual booze and play the game how it is intended to be played.

I don't think that kids suddenly found the taste of alcohol appealing so they started drinking at a younger age, but they do want to be cool and more grown up and liked. If that's what they think drinking will do for them - they'll drink.

If 13 year-olds are playing beer pong now, as drinking (games, mostly) are becoming more tolerated and less of a taboo, what will 10 year-olds be doing in five years? They should be playing hopscotch, not funneling beer ... or even apple juice for that matter.