Though I have never been an animal person- even when I was a small child- I still think that taking care of and even loving animals is an important experience for children. Having living dependents certainly opens wide the door to many lessons that just can't be as effective when only studied from books or even media.
As I write this, my 14 y/o daughter is across the state with formerly unfamiliar extended family learning about and getting to know her very own horse. I will share more about that when she and the horse arrive here in Star Valley!
So, up to the point when we have a horse to take care of, we have only dabbled in small animals.
We stopped at a Cal-Ranch one day and chose four fuzzy little chicks. Years ago we had some. Before Harris was even alive.
Oh boy did the children love the chickies. Each was given a name. Every day, usually more than once, they would get a towel and hold the chick. Of course, they tried to teach them tricks. Chick tricks.
With a hubby as busy as mine, I did my best to be patient about getting the birds out of my house and into their own. Eventually, I starting throwing around threats in the form of never cooking a lovely meal ever again. Here, you can see Morgan stapling chicken wire over the chicken run. "I don't want to be a pie!"
Their house is very well insulated.
The first day, the chicks wouldn't go back inside, so the girls had to show them how.
We've had them about six weeks now. So, they are no longer cute fuzzy things. They are now awkward teenagers.
The dog lives on the other side of this fence and hopefully deters any possible predators.
Jake didn't build a gate even though I told him to. I just know we're going to need one and when we do I'll be using inappropriate language at how all of this inconvenience could have been avoided!
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