Ok those of you who have fuzzy and not so fuzzy kids.  We have been
making an ongoing observation with our kids and other children and are
wondering if anybody else has noticed the same...Here's the story,
Our 3 yr old has been around ferrets, cats, dogs, and various rodents
since the day she was born.  Note that she is only 3...now she and the
animals share a mutual love for each other and of course for
mischief...hahahaha..
 
Our 7 ferts have free roam of the house most of the time.  Our daughter
is gentile with them, knows how to carry them properly, knows which toys
and foods are off limits for them, ect.  She'll tell us when Fenris is is
the bathroom (off limits)or that Hannibal is stealing shoes and hiding
them again,lol.  Yesterday our niece, aged 7, and nephew, aged 9, were
over.  They also have cats, dogs and a hamster at their house and come
over to our house about once a week or so.  Usually I will round up all
the ferts and put them in their cage for their own safety when the kids
are over.  Yesterday I thought I'd leave everybody out and see how it
went since it usually ends up with myself being pretty ticked off at the
niece and nephew....they get really carried away with the ferts and will
not listen when told to leave them alone, put them down, don't feed him
that, ect.  It ended up with the ferrets all being rounded up and placed
in the cage for fear of their safety once again.  The niece and nephew
get too excited and carried away, so the ferts just have to be off limits
with them unfortunately.
 
They are not bad bratty little kids, although I know this is what it
sounds like.  They just get so carried away!  It really amazes me that
two older children who have also grown up with pets cannot be trusted to
play nicely with the ferrets, but the toddler can.  She gets very angry
with her cousins and tells them that the ferret can't be held that way,
that he can't be stuffed into the dryer tube, couch,or cage if he doesn't
want to go, ect.ect.  My stepson, also 9 comes over every couple of
months(he doesn't live near by) and is just wonderful with the ferrets.
The only animal he has ever had at his moms house is a miniature
dachshund.  I have to wonder if it is just because of the similarity of
having to be more gentile with the small dog that he is used to being
around, but then again, the niece and nephew have a hamster which is even
smaller than the ferts, so you would think that they would be ok with
being around the ferrets instead of being so damn rowdy with them.  I
conclude that it must just come down to the individual kid being taught
respect for animals.  I know many others of you have kids or have had
experience with your ferrets and kids.  Any ideas?  Anything would be
appreciated.  I'd like for the kids to one day be able to come over and
play with the ferrets, but if that never happens, well it never happens.
I'd rather have unharmed ferrets,lol.  At the same time, I'd like for the
kids to learn respect for animals whether they are my pets or somebody
else's!
 
Thanks!
Yvonne and the once again free and happy mischief making monsters
[Posted in FML issue 4852]