Deprived on so Many Levels

My children are so pet deprived that they are catching animals around our house and asking if they can keep them. The deprivation goes back years. I’m not a pet person and while I think my husband is more open to having a pet than I am, I believe that his willingness is due to the fact that he travels for work and thus is not available for pet care duty. I’ve considered getting a special needs dog for Will but after considering that he usually ignores all animal life I decided that buying one would not be the most useful thing I could do with my retirement money.

Bri had an ant farm when she was five I made her keep it outside. It lasted two hours before the ants escaped. Jake had some pet worms he kept in his pockets that I found after I did the laundry! Moving on. But the most psychologically damaging wild pet experience was caused by Bri. One day when she was about five or six she came into the house and asked for cheese for her pet mouse. “Sure,” I replied. Thinking she was very optimistic about her ability to catch a mouse. She came back in a few minutes later for something else for her mouse and mentioned it was sleeping. I felt the first twinge of concern. I walked outside. Bri was over by the swing set on the ground. I saw a bed of grass surrounded by a circle of small rocks with broken pieces of cheese scattered around. In the middle of the grass is a contorted, dead mouse! I screamed, “Did you touch it? Did you touch it?” Seriously, did I think she had levitated it to the middle of the circle? My neighbor disposed of Bri’s pet for me since I am a wimp.

So far in our new house my children have caught two frogs and made a habitat. I tell them I believe in catch and release pet ownership. A neighbor told us there is a stray cat in the area. I offered to buy cat food if the kids wanted to pretend it was their pet.