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Show Going by the book - All the wav Mary Gae Evans Most of us parents and grandparents grand-parents seem to have one small failing we all share. We are convinced our children's lives will be warped if we do not let them have a pet a dog or cat, or a rabbit or two to care for. All the books on child rearing ". tell us that it is necessary for their basic development that they have a little animal to feed and care for. It teaches them responsibility they tell us. So we succumb and open our homes and hearts to a small puppy or kitten or other type of adorable little animal. Everything goes fine for a while. The children provide tender ten-der loving care for the little one. This phase lasts only a few weeks, however, then we enter phase two. The children are too busy now it seems and mother usually ends up taking over the chores. The puppy is not quite so cute when the carpet gets stained because no one put him out when it was time; or when he bit the neighbor's baby Just in fun of course. The clothes are hung on the line,1 clean and fresh, but when you go out to get them, little teeth have dragged them to the ground and chewed a few holes in strategic places. Kittens are the same so cute when you first get them. Then later, crashing through the house, climbing up the good drapes, and sharpening their dear little claws on the living room couch. , Now, as for rabbits, they don't rip up the house and they aren't too much trouble for . mom and dad to feed; but, somehow the pens keep filling up with more and more rab-1 bits, until there is nowhere to put them. A gentle suggestion that we might have some for dinner Is met with agonized shrieks, "not my rabbits, my favorite pets!" (they haven't looked at them in months). We gave in once to a plea for two cute little white rats. In the brief space of a few months their numbers had grown from 2 to 22. Our rabbit pens outside out-side were filled with all sizes of adorable little rodents. The neighbors began to look uneasy fearing that we were going to start an invasion on the east side of town. In desperation we tried to give them away. We begged the school to take them for a science project and, finally, final-ly, called the college and donated don-ated them to some psychology students. We convinced the kids that they would have a wonderful won-derful home. Well, enough of that, we swear never again! But the next time junior brings home a small stray mutt and says "he followed me home, can 1 keep him?" What do we say? "Alright, "Al-right, but only if you promise to take care of him yourself." and here we go again. Of course they do need a pet . . . the books say so. |