The Dark Side of the Monkey Business

July 1, 2008— -- Empty nesters looking to relive all the fun of raising children without reliving the turbulent teens are adopting some of our closest relatives: monkeys.

Families are dressing up capuchins, feeding them at the family dinner table and treating them like any other member of the family. They're called monkids.

Lori Johnson adopted her monkid, Jessy, when Jessy was 7 weeks old. Lori's children had all moved out and, struggling with an empty house, Lori fell into a deep depression.

"I thought about babies, but I didn't want to go through the preteens all again," Lori said.

This led her to another solution, and to Jessy.

"She thinks she's a child. She doesn't like other monkeys at all," Lori said. "She'd rather play with the kids."

Jessy is with Lori all the time. When she was a baby, she latched onto Lori's arm 24 hours a day for six months.

"Six months that I showered, went to the stores, cooked, slept, everything with her on my arm, because she wouldn't get off," Lori said. "You couldn't get her off."

It was nine months before Lori could leave the room without Jessy having a panic attack. There were other difficulties, as when Jessy started to nip at Lori and her husband, Jim. They eventually had her teeth removed.

Although there have been challenges, Lori said she couldn't imagine life without Jessy.

"I couldn't imagine not having her," Lori said. "We do something all the time with her."

Jessy gets dressed up in an assortment of handmade dresses, goes everywhere with Lori and Jim, sleeps in the same bed as them and loves fast food. Her favorites are Slim Jims and "monkey" fries.

And what does Lori say when people ask her why she would want a monkey for a daughter?

"I wanted a monkey because it's not going to grow up," Lori said. "And I'm not going to grow up."

This arrangement isn't unique. There are hundreds of videos on the Internet of proud parents enjoying their capuchins. It's estimated there are 15,000 monkeys living with humans as pets or surrogate children in the United States.