I've gotten way behind on reading my FML's, but I have seen a few posts
apparently on the subject of ferrets & children, and I take it that
someone's original post that started the thread must have been saying that
ferrets and kids don't mix.
 
I think it depends totally on the individuals involved- small human
individuals as well as the ferret individuals.  I have a five year old
daughter who is such a baby about pain that she cries over invisible
"owies".  I also have five ferrets.  I've never had the slightest bit of a
problem with any of them together.  I trust my daughter completely to be
nice to the ferrets and to hold them carefully and to play nicely with
them.  I also trust my ferrets with her completely.  Not one of them has
ever offered to show a tooth to any of us for any reason, not even playing;
of course, they were all over a year old when I got them, so maybe it would
have been a different story if I had of gotten kits.  But, these ferrets
and my daughter are really good together.  Tanker... he jumps on us
sometimes, and he does have the sharpest little claws imagineable!  He's
left claw marks on all of us at least once with his "guerilla" tactics,
but even that doesn't make my little girl afraid of him, or dislike him.
 
I just felt compelled to write, though, because I've never understood the
whole idea of refusing to let a small child have a pet because of their
age.  Truly, it depends on the individuals!!!  I know I waited until she
was four to get a ferret because I had always heard that they bite and are
not suitable for children, and I was afraid if I got one, it would hurt
her.  Even with her at four, everyone discouraged me from getting my first
ferret.  If I had known then what I know now, I would have gotten one at
least two years earlier!
 
This reminds me of my local animal shelter, too.  They refuse to even adopt
out a puppy or kitten to a home with a child under the age of six in it!
That's just stereotyping kids, to me, when in fact they are as different
from one another as adults are.  I'm not just being blind to the bad ones,
either.  In fact, when my roommates kids are over to visit, I don't even
like to let the ferrets out of their cages, because I fear for their
safety and happiness; I might let them out for a little while if the
eight-year-old is there alone, although she's not nearly as responsible
around them as my five-year-old is, but if his four-year-old daughter is
there -- no way!!!  No way will I let my ferrets be exposed to that
uncivilized creature.  I don't like having my daughter exposed to them
either, but at least I don't have to fear for her life around them.  So,
there again, I believe it's totally up to the individuals involved as to
whether ferrets & children mix successfully.
 
Vickie, daughter Tori, ferrets Tank (Tanker-boy, the Great White, Dirty
White Boy), Diva (Baby Dee-dee), Pandora (I can't say on here what else
we call her!), Flower (The Flower-Power), Moogie (Moogers), dogs Ogrefin
Thunderpup and as-yet-unnamed puppy-to-come, and cats Subatai the Valiant
and Hannibal the Cannibal
[Posted in FML issue 2631]