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]