The hottest pet may be the guinea pig. But forget not for a minute that these animals are - animals! We make hundreds of parenting decisions a day: What time to get the kids up; what to give them for breakfast; whether or not they need a bath depending on how funky they look/smell.

And we make mistakes along the way. In fact, I make them every day. I’ve regretted giving cupcakes and potato chips for dinner. I’ve beat myself up when I paid too much for yet another plastic toy that no one plays with.

And for what? To banish our guilt at our imperfection? Yet beware! The moment I said yes to one guinea pig, I had nine. Yes. Nine.*

And what may look cute and cuddly and lonely at the pet store comes home and needs to eat and eat and eat and eat. And be cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. And smells and smells and smells. And of course, poops and……

And of course we all know who gets to clean it!

So, be careful out there. You might want to go with that double scoop ice cream cone instead of the rodent.

*This is the last - last - rodent in a lineage of nine.

These tips can not be found in Sears or Spock. Rather, this is a look into the “not-so-often-reported,” yet “we-all-know-too-well” side of parenting. This is the third in our series.

A report, of sorts, on how to stay alive in the before, during, and after some of those very long days of parenting.

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and take a look at another deep thought about the ever challenging life we parents live. This video reminds me of the many years toiling away with the breast. Not an easy job. And it doesn’t matter, however we choose to feed a child, that delicate blob of skin and bones that comes into the world as our charge is the grandest, loudest, leakiest, noisiest, and somehow the most joyous thing we shall ever undertake.

Still. I’m glad I only had two!

We all know not to poke our eye out with a stick or run with scissors in our hands or not to strap your child to the roof of the car when they are more than annoying, but do you know the secret yet sound advise from the special Motherjungle parenting section?

Paradise or no paradise. Kids will be kids.

Witness Paradise Parenting Tip #1:

(And just in case you’re wondering, he did finally get his other shoe.)