Her First Pets

Our house has always been filled with animals from the days when the girls were little. Big Bee's first pet was a hamster, and we learned about death and life through little Pebbles. Thereafter, it was an endless parade of hamsters, fishes, octupuses (yes!) and 3 dogs...and now, 2 little terrapins.

Little Bee had been asking for her very own pet since a couple of years ago, and we had been putting her request off because a pet is not a plaything to us. Animals in our house are treated with much love and care, and every new pet takes up a lot of time and effort. Besides, we already have 3 playful and boisterous dogs which the Bees play with. So, I must admit we brushed off Little Bee's incessant requests for a long time, and hoped that it would be a passing fancy.

However, up until last month, she was still talking about her own little pet. And that was when Hubby and I decided to let her experience ownership and responsibility. Being the youngest in the family often means getting a wee bit more pampering and attention from everyone else, so we thought it might be good for her to start caring for a pet she could call her own.

And so....in came 2 baby terrapins, whom she named Pebbles (you can tell my kids like this name a lot!) and Melody. We told her to feed them daily and to play with them. Of course, kids being kids...it also meant that she needed a little reminding at times to feed them, and at times, we adults were the ones feeding these terrapins, especially if they are a little fussy when eating. However, we hope these terrapins can instill in her values of love, empathy, care and responsibility.

In the meantime, she is really excited and came up with a journal entry about her little terrapins. Here was what she wrote:

"Today, Mummy and Papa bought me two terrapins! The more active one is called Pebbles and the one which is less active is called Melody. My favourite things about them is when I feed them and when I play with them. I dislike it when the terrapins are on my hand because they will keep climbing around. They are both very cute but when I first bought them, they were very timid."

Then, she did a little sketch on the aquarium we set up for the terrapins too!

Pets are such wonderful opportunities to engender empathy, love and care for other living species. More importantly, they make us feel loved and entertained too!