Perfect example why NOT to let young children play with piggies!

[Ragous]

In my household I have 4 small children (my oldest child is only 9 years old) and we also have 2 cats, 1 dog and now the 2 GP girls. Before any animal enters this house we always have a family meeting. We sit down with the kids and talk about this paticular animal and what there needs are. For example....when we brought home our puppy we had bought the kennel and all the toys and food dishes prior to bringing home Koda. And we sat with the kids and talked about how puppy needs quiet time and if he is in his kennel he is off limits! We went over everything including handleing and play time and when to leave him alone. We have done this with all the animals and of corse every animal is different, but I feel supervison and voice from a parent can make a world of difference. When it comes to the guinea pigs my kids know NOT to try to pick them up but to ask mommy to do it, they also know not to just jump to the cage and stick there hand in it! It is funny and cute to watch but they will give the 'animal voice' as they slowly get close to the cage and slowly put there hands in to say hello.

My nine year old is already talking about fostering or rescueing when he gets older......I keep telling him how proud I am of him for wanting to help

[wolfie]

Ragous- I have a 9 year old, and she is also talking about setting up a rescue when she is older- maybe that means we are doing something right!

[Lucy99]

EVERYTHING is down to the parents, you can not blame the kids for doing any of these things. Children have to be taught to be kind and gentle with animals, you can not just expect it to happen!

[this_lil_piggy]

I have 8 yr old and 3 yr old sons. Our first 2 gp's were acquired by/for my 8 yr old. Hes a very kind hearted child and adores animals. Its a good means of responsibility and accountability for him. The 8 yr old is responsible for watering, supplying hay, and pellets for the gp's each day, and the 3 yr old gets veggie duty. The majority of lap time for our 6 pigs is given by my 8 yr old. That being said, my kids have been taught how to handle animals and the consequences of not handling them properly. Even though they do most of the handling and feeding, its still always under my watchful eye. It works out great for us.

I cant believe anyone let this situation get SO out of control that children actually SAT on gp's. What idiots!

[kathmom26]

My children are also taught that they are not toys. The ones I trust seem to have more to do with the personality then the age. I do not see this in many children. I was asking for help with one of my critters I was thinking of adopting. Another homeschool mom replyed that she really did not know "I just buy the stuff and let them take care of them". I am not sure what that meant. Maybe they were capable.

Considering the way we treat other human beings I am not surprised. My sister had to put her elderly cat down awhile ago. She told me how no one but her seemed upset about it. I have heard people being laughed at because their precious animal had died "It is only a dog".

[this_lil_piggy]

That is terrible Kath But your right, alot of people this day and age just arent as compassionate as they should be.

I had to have my shihtzu that I had owned for 15 years put down last November, and I have to say that my vets office was incredible through it. I had never had to do that before and I was just beside myself. Id had Dessy since way before I ever even had kids. I just totally broke down on my way out the door of the vets office, and they all came rushing to me--the whole staff. They had treated Dessy for all the years I had her, so they sympathized with what I was going through, and were sad at having to let her go as well. You dont find people like that every day anymore.

[DebiDidit]

Terrible situation!

[DebiDidit]

I've noticed a lot of "kid bashing" the fault is not of the children, but their parents! I have 4 children, the youngest being 3. At a very young age they were all exposed to amimals of all shapes and sizes, and I have had no problems with any of them (except the youngest who likes to drop pennies in the aquarium).
Children need to be taught and closley monitered with all animals. If a child was never taught how to handle or care for an animal, you can NOT blame that child, you must blame the adults who were neglectfull. Most children are just fine with animals, if the adluts in their lives took the time to set clear guidlines, and proper supervision.

[CBrewton5]

Originally Posted by DebiDidit

If a child was never taught how to handle or care for an animal, you can NOT blame that child, you must blame the adults who were neglectfull.Most children are just fine with animals, if the adluts in their lives took the time to set clear guidlines, and proper supervision.

I agree with that too, but *parent bashing* is just as bad, as with any other extreme thinking. There are exceptions to most rules, and I've seen plenty of kids that the parents have done everything short of beating their kid when they see them be rough with an animal or mistreat it, yet the kid still continues with the behavior to the point that the parent literally cannot allow the child around animals for thinking they might hurt it. So you're right, it's not always the child's fault, but it's not ALWAYS the parent's fault either. Without the benefit of knowing what raising a kid has had, you can't judge which scenario it is, or whether it's a combination of both.

[Blindy]

CBrewton5 It is the parenst fault! It is very strange if parenst can hit their kids for hitting animals, it is just strange and confusing.
Instead of being violent they should have a normal converstion with their child!

[CBrewton5]

Originally Posted by Blindy

CBrewton5 It is the parenst fault! It is very strange if parenst can hit their kids for hitting animals, it is just strange and confusing.
Instead of being violent they should have a normal converstion with their child!

Re-read my post, I didn't say the parents should beat or even hit their child for mistreating animals, I said that I've seen parents that have done everything SHORT of that, only to have the kid keep on repeating the same behavior. If you're going to attack me, at least do so for something I *did* say.

[Blindy]

Sorry English isnt my first language
so sometimes I get things wrong.
But I still think its a bad I dea the should try to talk more to their kids or use play and stories!
I am happy that I live in Sweden, people end up in jail if they hit their kids!

[wolfie]

When I was a child the first dog we attempted to rescue came from an abusive situation. It didn't take long to figure out that the abuse came from children and not adults. She was not afraid of my parents at all , but she was terrified of me. My parents would have me sit on my hands, so that I wouldn't forget and try to pet her and so that she couldn't see those frightening hands. We were able to lure her onto my lap, and I would give her lots of sweet, soft talk. She would even give me a lick under the chin but then she would start to tremble with fear. No matter how hard we tried we could not get her beyond this point and in the end requested that the rescue find an adult only home for her.

Several years later, my neighbor, who was a policeman, brought his K-9 dog home to live with his family. Czar was one of the most beautiful German Sheperds I have ever seen. My parents explained that Czar would not appreciate attention from a child and that I was NOT to go near him. I was an impulsive, animal loving kid and did not listen. But I was a well-trained kid, and gave him lots of sweet talk before I let him sniff my hand and petted his head. Not once did Czar ever display any type of aggressive behavior towards me, and we spent many hours happily communing through the fence. ( And yes, I got in big trouble, but once my parents observed the situation they were okay). Sadly, my neighbor, the policeman, was of the school of thought that dogs should tolerate anything done to them. He and his wife, never supervised their two young girls or taught them the proper way to handle a dog. One day, when their 4 year old was beating Czar on the head with her toy phone, he snapped and bit her on the cheek. My neighbor took Czar into the backyard and was going to shoot him with his police revolver, when my mother intervened. Most of what she said is unfit for print. However her message was clear, if my neighbor felt he had to shoot whoever was responbile for his daughter's injury, then he should use the gun on himself. Total responsibility for his daughter's injury was his and not the dog's. I don't know what happened to Czar. I know that the K-9 unit came and that my mother definitely said her piece to them before they took Czar away.

Both of these incidents happened almost 40 years ago, but they left an indelible mark on me and had a profound effect on how I view treatment of animals. No matter how you cut it, parents are always responsible. If children cannot learn to properly handle an animal, for everyone's safety and well-being that animal should be re-homed. If the parents of our first rescue attempt had intervened sooner, perhaps the psychological damge done to this beautiful dog would not have been PERMANENT.

[Inrun]

In the past few years in Alberta there's been quite a few attacks of Akita dogs on children. In everyone one of the cases, it has been child caused. One child took the food away from the dog and was teasing it. Another child stabbed the dog in an ear with a pencil. Some kids were playing very rough. And out of all those cases, the dogs were killed because they snapped at idiot children.
I think a lot of this is parent caused. I never hurt animals when I was a child, and my house was a freaking zoo. Birds, reptiles (no rodents since my dog would have eaten them), and we had horses at our farm. I don't know about some kids these days. My nephews are bad for it, they just don't get that what they do can hurt animals. Their homelife is also crap, and not to make excuses for them but when they're being treated the way they are by their mother (since they don't live with my brother), it's little wonder that they don't have respect for other living creatures.
My brother and I never had problems with animals when we were young. We were taught respect, and by darnit if my parents had caught us doing something stupid with any animal we'd be in absolute trouble. So we just didn't do something stupid. We respected them. We knew their boundries and what we could and could not do. I don't think it's fair to say that all kids are 'irresponsible'. I've seen a lot of irresponsible teens and adults. Looking back however, I always had help doing chores with the animals. My mom used to clean the bird cages with me (she'd wash, i'd dry), and dad would help my brother with his iguanas and his tortoise. Beh.

[this_lil_piggy]

It may not be the fault of the parents all the time when children are rough with animals, I'll agree to that point. Some kids are just hard headed and have a strong willed personality. But, if you know your child is rough, strong willed, hard to control, and not particularly gentle with animals then you dont expose those children to animals in a situation where they can harm them. All in all it is still the responsibility and fault of the parents if they choose to do so.

[zippysmom]

Cartoons set very bad examples. I was watching the poor rabbits and pigs in the pet store and I saw kids picking up the rabbits by the ears. Probably because they saw the cartoons. The staff in petting zoos in spend their time moping around and wishing they were elsewhere. From what I have seen, that is what I think.