There are special people out there in America who want to fill a parental void but don’t actually want any children. Instead of adopting a traditional pet like a dog, cat, or goldfish, these people spend as much as $5,000 to adopt a monkey, often a capuchin monkey that can grow up to 22 inches and 9 pounds. The monkeys are basically toddlers that will never grow up. An estimated 15,000 monkeys live as surrogate children within American families. TLC is currently featuring some of these families on “My Baby Monkey,” which originally aired in Britain. (You can watch videos here.)
Many of the “parents” were empty nesters before adopting their monkeys, or they had experienced troubling childhoods and didn’t want children of their own. Now, these people don’t treat their monkey children, which are sometimes referred to as monkids, like pets. Instead, the monkeys are allowed to eat at the dinner table, wear makeup and designer clothes, have their own decorated bedrooms, and get transported around in baby carriages. Keep reading »
