The new addition

I'm not a big pet person (unless it is a pet rock or stuffed pet), but after much work and effort I did allow Lauren to get a parakeet a few years ago.  Then Ben took it upon himself to find pets.  This involved a variety of caterpillars, worms, snails, pill bugs, grasshoppers, etc.  Usually I get him to set them free after a short "visit" however he did have a couple of caterpillars turn into cocoons and one into a chrysalis.  Also we had a friend who found a little tree frog and gave it to him.  It was amazing how quickly the "pets" became frog food :)  Well Ben was a very faithful caregiver.  Several times a day he would mist his pets and every couple of days he would dig up more worms for the frog.  It worked for me because I had minimal responsibility and it met his need to nurture and care for something.  Ben was very fond of his frog and would often sit and talk to him or "play" with him. 

When we decided to go out of town Dad volunteered to take care of the pets.  Ben provided instruction in the proper care of frogs and bugs and Lauren gave him the scoop on the bird.  Each time we talked to Dad Ben asked about his frog and how he was doing.  One of those days Rusty informed me that the frog had died.  Evidently Dad forgot the all important water factor. After many tears Rusty promised Ben that when he came home he would help him get a "new" pet.  Ben turned his attention to pet dreaming- bunnies, snakes, lizards, chinchillas, turtles, guinea pigs, etc (he knew not to even ask about dogs or cats as I had already banned those options). I could see a nightmare in the making. 

When we got home and visited the pet store I figured I needed to intervene. Surely there is some pet somewhere that someone is done with that we could adopt.  I quick search of craigslist confirmed that there where tons of cats and dogs and glory be a small robo hamster- complete with cage and all of the necessary accessories.  So now we have a new pet- Robo Whiskers Clarke.  He is very tiny and very quick and fairly low maintenance.  Every day I let Benny take him into the bathroom so he can run around- which meets Ben's needs for "playing."  Other than that he sits in his little cage and sleeps most of the day. The best part is that hamsters have a fairly short life expectancy. That sounds cruel I know, but at least we won't have a forgotten and forsaken cat or dog that no one wants to take care of - you would think I had a bad pet experience as a child (I did).