Seeking New Recruits for Dangerous Assignment

Having a pet is a rite of passage for a kid. It's a way to learn some responsibility and look after someone besides yourself. Pets of course come in all varieties, but the most coveted for every child has to be the dog. Not all kids are that lucky though, and they wind up having to settle for something else.

Yep, I had a gold fish.

So you'd think my kids would be grateful for their dog, but as is the tendency for all of us, they seem to only see what they don't have... and there are plenty of pets they don't have!

Because we as parents drew the line at one domesticated animal, though a 10-gallon fish tank some how made it passed, the kids continue to actively recruit undomesticated ones. They have found that crickets and beetles are easy finds and fun to catch and keep in cups or shoe boxes. A plastic water bottle makes a great home for a dozen or more cockroaches. Yes, the twins somehow managed that one! A prey mantis and a handful of crickets inhabit a reptile habitat that Braden purchased after we received an in-home visit from a gecko. Unfortunately they let it go, so Braden and Ryan are currently seeking a new, good-looking recruit.

Chanel has even joined the search and enlisted a baby bird for a few days this summer. Perhaps you would call it a forced enlistment, as she literally climbed a bush and knocked it from its nest, but the kids are not picky on how they join up. For Braden it brought back memories of his beloved Perry from our Ohio days (let's just say a few tears were shed) and for the girls it was another baby to be loved. Every morning the twins would run down to the bush to make sure the bird was in its nest. If it wasn't they would scoop it up and place it back in. They

must have decided that life in a nest by yourself was lonely though, because they began carrying it around and playing with it. It even passed a wonderful afternoon cradled in Hadley's hands watching a movie in the comfort of our air conditioned house.

Now Chanel could take offense at the kids' determination to find a suitable pet, but she doesn't seem to mind. In fact, I think she's happy that they're focusing their attention elsewhere, because unfortunately our recruits never seem to make it out alive!