The Animal Rules

We’re trying to teach the kids the proper way to interact with the pets. They have a lot left to learn, but they have a lot left to learn about interacting with people. Some of the lessons learned so far:

Good: Giving the chinchilla a peanut.
Bad: Giving the chinchilla a jar full of peanuts.

Good: Walking up to the chinchilla’s cage to say, “hi.”
Bad: Shaking the chinchilla’s cage to make sure he’s awake to hear you say, “hi.”

Good: Speaking softly to the cats.
Bad: (The cats won’t let them get close enough to learn what not to do)

Good: Petting the dog.
Bad: Crossing that fine line between “petting” and “hitting” the dog.

Good: Feeding the dog.
Bad: Dumping your food on the floor to feed the dog.
Worse: Stealing from the dog’s food dish.

Abbie learned a couple new rules tonight regarding the fish. While the fish ate, she hit their aquarium to make her presence known.

“Do not hit the fish tank, Abigail,” I told her, making sure to use her full name for extra emphasis.

“Do not hit the fish tank,” she repeated. Remembering her human interaction rules, she continued with, “do not scratch the fish.”

Scratching isn’t much of an issue with the glass between her and the fish, but maybe she’ll carry that over to other animal interactions. Or at least maybe she’ll remember that she’s not supposed to scratch humans instead of just repeating the rules.