Monday, February 2, 2009
Editorial, first time. Not much to do with P'Ville
I have not done this before and feel that sometimes it needs to be done. I am a parent and have been for years. I have been through much and seen good and bad times. My life has been twisted and organized. I would like to ask that school kids not be allowed to take home the class pet. This weekend I was lucky enough to get my turn. Alvin the hamster came to visit and was treated like a king. My daughter loves this furry creature of God and when he died...yes died this weekend, she was crushed. I know that death is part of life, but, she feels like she will be hated by every kid in school. I feel so bad and understand that she will re-bound, but at what cost? I will let you know what happens later, Monday will be tough enough.
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7 comments:
JT, sorry about the bad news for your daughter's pet alvin. i recall a long time ago, my children became involved in 4h livestock projects. the kids got their animals in march and spent the summer with them doing chores, feeding and training. I recall sitting with the other parents on sunday night/last night of the fair, and trying to get the younger children out of the barns before the tears started.
they knew that night the animals were going for slaughter. Generally by the time their checks arrived in the mail for their market livestock sale, the tears were faded. they began to talk about next years project and they were defintely going to have the grand champion-pig/goat/steer/chicken/turkey etc.
life aint fair and from what i get from your attitude on life, you will use this as a life lesson for your daughter. good luck
maddog
Maddog, thanks for the sentiment and for what is worth I am surely less broken hearted than my daughter. I am more broken hearted for her at this point. True that life is not fair sometimes and I will tell her about your story so that she feels better. I will leave out the slaughter part however, don't think that she would get it. JT
JT - I can honestly say that I have not experienced this one...yet. What I think will make a difference is how the teacher handles it with the class. I am sure that he/she has experienced this before in his/her teaching career and will know what to do.
Unfortunately, dying is a part of life and a very difficult thing for anyone to deal with - much less a young child.
The best you can do as a parent is to reinforce to your daughter that it wasn't her fault and that it doesn't matter if she had Alvin this weekend or if another classmate had Alvin - he would have died anyway.
Best of Luck and Please keep us posted
DC
DC, your kind words and advice are very welcome. I think that she is doing better now in fact I got the following from her last night.
In a parental talk I told her that if anything bad ever happened that she could always tell me and that by telling she would be doing a good thing, not bad. She fired off with "I did not kill that hamster". She seemed Ok with things at that point even though I was just throwing out the general statements about telling when bad things happen. So...for all that wondered, I think she is fine. Turns out the school teacher did not worry that much either, I guess she had it with all the care and planning around a seemingly innocent idea of having a classroom pet. All's well that ends well. Thanks again for the support all.
Jt, been there done that, our teacher used it as a learning tool, the service was great for the kids.
What are you going to do when she asks you if the cow she ate at MsDonald or the chicken at KFC had a funeral? Now you will have a real learning tool. Like people some animals have more rights than others!
VEGAN
VEGAN, I have been through most of the awkward moments with the kids up to this point. Been through the McD's where's the beef...come from questions. This just happened to be a first. She seems to be be doing fine and she realizes that she did nothing wrong. If I did not know better she will be the next crocodile hunter, loves animals. JT
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