The Things We Do For Our Kids

As most of you know my kids want a pet. It has been well established what behavioral "habits" need to happen in order for that to take place. They have down sized their requests from canine to rodent.

It doesn't help that being city dwellers A LOT of people allow their children to have guinea pigs and rabbits. One of these friends was going to Japan for 3 weeks and my 'helpful' children offered to baby sit their 4 guinea pigs and 2 rabbits while they were away. (No that wasn't a typo- 6 all together).

Although I wasn't excited, I felt this would be a good 'test run' . Although most teachers who know that their students aren't ready wait for a huge project- as a parent I looked at it as more of a 'learning to walk' moment. I knew they weren't ready to 'stand on their own' (let alone walk) but I appreciated their determination to try.

We will just say that we all learned A LOT. Those were the most loved animals. (In fact the mom said that once the animals got back to her place they would call out to her and the kids all the time. She said it was obvious they were well loved and given a PILE of attention because of how lonely the animals were once they got home.)

My kids are full of love but one pet is a lot of responsibility. Six is over the top. What is nice is that once the animals left and we were cleaning, they were the ones who pointed our their short comings. There were apologies and I could easily forgive- well because the animals were gone. In all reality, my kids did work really hard.

I do have to say though that it has helped me see that my kids do need an animal to love. I need an animal that doesn't have to be carried around (and can go to the bathroom outside....... my school room smelled like a farm). I am closer to letting them have a dog than I was a month ago..... but need to finish up potty training my 2 year old before I embark on another big adventure.