Pet Problems: Kids & Animals

Posted by Vulnadia on Nov 17, 2010 at 11:50 PM Have you ever had any problems with your kids and your animals? Lately, my friends and I seem to be having issues with our kids and our pets. I always thought it was healthy for kids to have pets and that they learned from them. But, us Mommies have been comparing notes, and the notes are a bit...um...disconcerting to say the least. Most of my experiences have been to prevent or head off problems before they actually start, so when my doggie died a year ago, we didn't run out and get a puppy...or a kitten... I got a DOG...already trained, already older and by far more sturdy than a baby version... You see, my niece once was given her cousin's bunny to hold...only the bunny squirmed and my niece held on tighter and tighter until the bunny didn't struggle anymore...my niece was only 2...who the heck gives a bunny to a 2yr old without holding it FOR them anyways? To put it gently (pun most intended) the bunny broke its neck and didn't make it. They actually dared blame my niece for its death, too..something that left a lasting impression with me...hence my not wanting puppies or kittens for quite some time, not til my kids were older anyways! Then there was my friend in Houston. Her daughter is notorious for leashing her kitty...in fact we don't know how kitty is still breathing it happens soo often. Poor kitty was last found precariously balancing on the edge of the children's rocking chair with a belt looped around her neck and tied to the radiator trying not to hang itself. Then she got her son a beta fish as a starter pet. Her son is 3...he pet it to death...literally squeezed the fish saying it needed a "hug" and then smiled sweetly and asked if he could have a shark now since it was what he wanted in the first place anyways... Yesterday, my own daughter was caught picking up our Tarantula's lucite box and dropping it repeatedly (it was only an inch off of the table but spiders are VERY fragile and can suffer internal damage from falls.) I think she only wanted to see the spider move, but it really upset me to see her do this. She knows better than to touch the spider box, too. (Yes Blanche the Tarantula is just fine in case you were wondering!) Then today, another friend of mine writes me in a panic. It seems that her cat Jesus was playing with a salamander and her 10yr old ended up dismembering the salamander he had retrieved from the cat. She was upset because she worries that it was alive when he did it...she THINKS he thought it was dead, but we don't know for sure...I mean, what do you say? You would THINK a 10 yr old would know better, would know right from wrong...but then again we teach them to dissect things in science class to learn about them so technically what should the kids think? So what do you do? How do you react when you find your children doing things they shouldn't with your pets or other animals?