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]