My partner currently is not living with me yet, but always anthropomorphizes his animals (in particular snakes).... Saying things like they don't want to eat unless he's also eating so he eats a snack etc while feeding them.... Calling them his children and himself their daddy... Claiming certain behaviors mean they want to be picked up and held etc. It's really annoying to me because I know this is all totally incorrect. Can anyone give advice on how to talk to him about this?
Gently, casually, intermittently. You can’t just be like ‘dude, no’ and not have it damage the relationship. With people like that in my life, on the important stuff, I just drop in comments occasionally about the actuality of things. Sometimes I’ll make it be a joke, sometimes I’ll just be like ‘so it’s actually kinda cool that x is a thing, you wouldn’t think right?’. People seem to absorb some of it over time.
You could also maybe just have an honest discussion with him about that, if you feel like it’s something he’d be receptive to and that you have a strong enough relationship to overcome any conflict it causes. Find a time and be like hey, can we talk about this, this is a thing that bothers me. I’d frame it as you’re totally fine with the comments if they’re not serious but you really want to make sure that you’re on the same page about them being jokes and not reality because that can influence actual animal welfare.
