-,{@ Spring Manatee Festival last January I let a little girl see Sneakers.
 -,{@ She must have been about 2.5 years old.  Her mother was holding her at
 -,{@ the time.  Since Sneakers doesn't bite, I presented her sideways to
 -,{@ the little girl.  The little girl reached out as if to pet Sneakers
 -,{@ but grabbed Sneaker's little head and squeezed.  I shreeked and the
 -,{@ little girl's mommy gave the little girl a spank.  Oooo!  Poor
 -,{@ Sneakers looked at me funny.  The mother apologized and the little
 -,{@ girl hopefully learned a lesson.
 
Hiya! With a little person of 2.5 ferrets look almost like furry toys. Kids
see cats, and dogs, and even rabbits, and every other kind of animal in
books. But how often do you see ferrets in children's books? Rarely if at
all. So she no doubt had no idea what the ferret was...and a child of that
age...they are still learning in part by touching/feeling etc. :)  I doubt
she meant any harm at all. I hope she doesn't dislike them after that.
 
Well, she sure won't squeeze them anymore. And...I can relate too, because
I'm a clown/magician. I used to use hamsters in my act. They are even
smaller and can really get hurt. So I really had to be careful. For me,
though, I had to try not to um...start or react if they began to hold too
tightly. Believe me, it wasn't easy! But a Clown reacting like that isn't a
good idea! <G> The child gets scared, then feels awful, and then generally
doesn't want anything to do with a hamster or other small critters ever
again, and....no clowns either! <gg>
 
With kids that young...I just start out warning them and telling them "This
is * * * and she is very small and you need to be very soft with her." Soft
is a good word for toddlers + ...they understand that. Then at first I keep
my hands right there..so they can't grip the hamster/ferret's head or
anything. It works out better that way. For me anyway. :) And that way they
don't form negative, or associate negative things with animals, ferrets,
hamsters, whatever.
 
It is true about no ferret books though. Bummer, huh? Any writers out here?
<g>
 
-,{@  fingers in a cage.  One of our pandas was not having a good day and
 -,{@ did not want to be visited by a strange smelling little boy so she
 -,{@ nipped at him.  I asked him if he had seen the signs and he gave me a
 -,{@ dumb look.  I told him he should have known better than to have stuck
 -,{@ his finger in any type of animal's cage.  He ran away and we never saw
 
Signs...good idea...that way, even if he'd have run off to mom she couldn't
argue with you, as you had it posted! Why is it always boys who do things
like that? <GG> (Kidding, no offense to boys!! I have three girls though.
<GGG> I love kids, no matter if it's boys, girls. So no one get mad at me,
okay? <G>
 
CONGRATS ON THE NEW BABY!!
 
-,{@   have something to do with moving eggs around.  Regardless, we think
 -,{@ it  cute but annoying when they do it in the middle of the night.
 
ROFLMAO!! I'll have to get a golf ball! Hehehe!! I can't imagine why..but
I'm a new ferret person. Maybe it's the little holes in it, and it makes a
neat sound? I have no clue! <G>
   __                      _
  /  )                   _//
 /  / __.  o _   __  ,   /    o ____
 /__/_(_/|_<_/_)_/ (_/ o /___ <_/ / < o o o
                   /
                  '     ..And the Furries.....
 
 
[Posted in FML issue 0600]