As someone who has been a shelter mom for almost 18 years I have
learned to be suspicious of kids in general. On the other had I have
met a number of children who are quite excellent with the ferrets and
I'm glad I met those who were not. For that reason I encourage people
who want to adopt to bring their kids to visit the shelter first.
Having also been a study hall teacher in the distant past I have no
problem calling a loud halt to misbehavior. (My study hall voice is
undeniably impressive.) In any case we rarely place ferrets where
there are children under the age of 8-9.

Kids come in various packages, like our ferrets do. The bad child who
kicked the back of my seat on an airplane for the entire trip, and
whose mom wished me luck at getting her to stop, is lucky that I didn't
toss her out the window. But the little four year old who came to our
last meeting was an angel who gently played with the ferrets and who
didn't even fuss when mom told her she had had enough Christmas treats.
So I try use my suspicion wisely and watch a child in action before
making a judgment, as did Sandy.

My final take on this: I used to think that the hardest thing about
sheltering was knowing that you can't save them all. It's not. The
hardest thing about sheltering is knowing that you will make mistakes.

Bobbi McC, KC Ferret Hotline and Shelter

[Posted in FML 6580]