Do your kids have pets? What kind of pets? Are they family pets, or are the kids expected to take care of them?
When my brother and I were younger we had goldfish and a hamster at various points. They were I suppose family pets, in that we all interacted with and took care of them. Our parents didn't trust us to be sole carers of the animals, and we kind of proved them right. Of course now the rabbits are totally our responsiblity, aside organising the vets and actually financing them. We're 16 and 19 now, so not exactly children.
my daughter (she is 10) has a fancy rat. she does all of the care. she feeds it, gives her fresh water and cleans the cage. she is very responsible with pet care. she has had her rat for one year now. my boy is 8. he wants a hamster but i know i would have to keep an eye on it. my boy has a learning disability that affects his short term memory and he might forget to feed a pet without constant reminding. he loves animals though. he wants to own a petting zoo someday, lol! kathy
I would love to have some but as of now Im glad I dont have any cuz I have to take care of what I have first...but Maybe some ducks someday or a dog
When my daughter was 3, my mom gave her a hamster. It lived a looong time, for about 4-5 years. I had to clean it's cage, remind her to feed it, etc. Now she's 9 and she is responsible for caring for our cats. She always remembers the morning feeding, but she usually forgets the evening feeding. She wants a lizard, but she is still trying to earn it, by showing us that she is responsible enough.
We have a gerbil and a dog. I take care of both. Of course, the girls are only 2 and 6, so I can't expect too much from them!
anytime we get an animal I always say it's mine, no matter what. Becuase I know I will be the only one who will take care of it. But then again my kids are only 2 and 3. And my husband dose not like animals. Which I have told him a couple of times that he married the wrong person to not like animals. If I could afford it I woulld have LOTS of different animals. 8)
I dont like the idea of haveing a pet but I do like the idea of helping out another animal like adopting a dog, cat, lama exc. I'm not trying to say your rong and I'm right but caged animals! I worked with other animals at vets and pet stores so I guess I have a diferent outlook on the idea. I could go on forever but I wont.
At the height of our "Home Zoo" a few years ago we had Three dogs, two Malamutes and a terrier mix a bunny an iguana some lizards which my FIL brought back from FLA and had no business being pets, but he brought them to us in winter and I couldn't set them free in the midst of a Chicago winter. All they did was try to bite us and eat disgusting wax worms, I was not sorry to see the last one die off after a year or so a bunch of fish a cannibalistic frog a bullfrog Now we just have one Malamute, some fish and a hamster. But I am lobbying for some chickens and Moon wants an other bunny
^^^ Maggie your home zoo sounds like so much fun Your kids are so lucky to have so many little friends! We always had birds Budgies, actually so cute! At first it was mostly mom and dad's responsibility because I was three and the boy was six when we got the first one... as the years went on they became mostly mine, because the boy isn't good with animals and I love them!
We have a dog and a cat. My husband and I mostly take care of them, but our kids are only 6 and 5. We didn't get them for the kids though. Actually, neither was planned. Both were homeless and we took them in.
