Small Pets

My family and I currently live in an apartment, and have yet to buy our own home. Because of this, we are restricted by our landlord about what types of pets we can have in our house. I realize that we are lucky we can have any, as many landlords don’t allow any pets because they fear the damage a pet can do. Ours, however, loves animals, and she does not mind our two cats, and if our daughter wants any type of small pets, she would be free to have one if she wishes.

Recently I made a deal with my daughter that if she were to keep her room clean, or at least picked up, for an entire month that we would allow her to choose among the small pets in our local pet store. She was very excited, but she’s not doing well with keeping her room picked up. Though I wouldn’t mind helping her care for small pets, I do want her to show some signs of responsibility before we allow her to get one. She’s been trying some, but not hard enough. I just don’t think she’s ready.

She has spoken to me, with great enthusiasm, about which small pets she thinks she would like to have. One of her first suggestions was a snake, but I vetoed that as quickly as she could say it. I’m glad she finds all animals interesting, but I could not sleep at night if there were a snake in my house. She has also shown interest in a frog, but I suspect that might be too hard to care for in her case. I have mentioned hamsters to her, and she seems to be okay with that idea, at least for a while. After a while the hamster wish turned into a wish for a bunny, and that is simply something we can not do.

The only other small pets I can think of are fish. Though they are a bit more work, I think they would be easier than a frog, and probably easier than even a hamster. She seems to like that idea as well, but I think she may opt for something that she can end up holding a lot. I’m not going to worry about it too much anyway, because she can’t keep her room picked up even when there are just a few things lying around. I suspect when the day comes that she has earned her choice of small pets will be a few years down the road yet.

Summary: Teaching kids responsibility especially where caring for a pet is concerned, is not very difficult. Just as pets need discipline and structure, so do children. The worst possible scenario is to give a child a pet, and then the aprent ends up taking care of the animal. Think carefully before giving in to pleading for a small pet. Make sure children are mature and responsible enough to handle ownership of an animal.

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