Family Pet Portraits — More Common than Ever as Millennials Opt Out of Having Kids
According to The Atlantic, the current generation of college-age people and couples well into their late twenties are the first in recorded history to not really be having kids. What's more, many Millennials don't have plans to have kids at all — not because they don't like them, but because they do.
Sound weird? It's not, because their logic is pretty sound: most Millennials say they don't want to have kids because they don't want to add to overpopulation, increase their carbon footprint — something past generations didn't even have on their radar.
Those of us who protested during our salad days of the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s eventually dropped our sit-ins for online petitions and settled into parenthood and all that comes with it. Millennials have different ideas — and they mainly come from a place of social responsibility, making them more conscientious and accountable than a lot of us 30 or more years their senior (eeep!)
Millennials and animal welfare, along with sustainability are like three peas in a pod. This generation is vegan and vegetarian, they are rooftop gardeners, they are homemade solar panel makers and users, they use repurposed wood to make art, and they dumpster dive for furniture — and wind up with digs that look way cooler than their older-generation counterparts.
And Millennials adopt from kill shelters… and the dogs and cats they rescue become their kids. So much so, in fact, that many Millennial pet owners will freely tell you they spend as much on their fur babies as parents of human babies spend on their biological children.
Things like ultra high-end, grain-free, limited ingredient kibble made from whole food sources, $350 dog beds, family beach trips, hiking vacays, camping trips at top-notch locations, and everyday walks to the local coffee shop are only the beginning.
Let’s not forget this generation is mega into animal welfare, so spaying and neutering is a must, and ranges in price from$100-350 depending on breed and size. Then there’s vaccinations, which run $150 the first year and $50-65 every year thereafter.
Large breeds will need to have their stomachs stapled to avoid bloat, and that’s a costly procedure too. All in all, you can begin to see how it isn’t apples and oranges at all in terms of price when it comes to Millennial fur babies and the parents of human babies.
And then there’s the family photo shoot! There’s really nothing sweeter than a family portrait with a pet, especially when that pet is a soul you consider a son or daughter — a true family member.
Photo shoots with your beloved pets make for great holiday cards, refrigerator magnets, and of course, framed photos for your walls.
You can make your favorite pet portraits a part of your home decor that fit in seamlessly with the rest of your interior design theme by selecting the right matte and frame for the photos. If you have several pictures, such as a classic photo from your dog birthday party, an elegant shot from a professional pet photographer of the whole family under a tree, and images of the pets as they age, these make for adorable wall collages.
You can easily hang these and create a pet parent montage with the YOUHANGIT by simply adhering it to the back of each frame (as seen in the instructions when you click here), sliding the YOULEVEL between the frame and the glass, and squishing the picture frame against the wall once the bubble in the hands-free YOULEVEL is right in the middle.
So get out there with your sweet camera phones and professional Nikon cameras and get those great pics of your pet birthday celebration, your family anniversary day, Millennials. And if your fur babies are truly your babies, you have to do a professional family photo shoot and post it to our YOUHANGIT Facebook page! We want to see your adorable critters!