why do you care? genuine question. ask it of yourself and mull over what the answer says about you. if you can't come up with one, i recommend talking to a professional.

[–] Barley_Man@sopuli.xyz -3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

I would define being a parent as either having adopted a human being or having conceived a human being. Why do I care? I think words should have a useful meaning. If we broaden it to anyone who has a pet then we would require a new word for those that have a human child because in some cases that distinction is important because it is truly fundamentally different in several ways. If someone organized a local meetup group for new parents it should be understood that people who have recently adopted a cat would not be welcome. If the word parent is broadened in this way what would we then have to call that group, a "new human parent group"?

I can ask you: what are you missing in the term "cat owner" that you feel you need to use "cat parent" instead?

[–] fushuan@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 hour ago

No one here is using the word parent alone. In the top post they specifically say cat parent. Do you really think that will confuse people? I think you are angry due to personal reasons and are taking it out with people that used the word in a pretty clear way.

No one is broadening anything. People don't say "I have two kids" and then show you cats, they say "I have two cats, they are my lovely kids!". It's not confusing.

If you are annoyed that your family members compare your kid with their cat, as another user told you that's a conversation between you and them, that isn't happening here, there's no need to introduce drama where there's none.