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If Your Child 'Lost Interest' in Their Pet Rabbits.............

Jack's-Jane

Wise Old Thumper
.........would you make sure they HAD to fulfil the promises they made prior to obtaining them. They pestered for months and months about wanting Rabbits, you put all the usual counter arguments to them- about the commitment needed to own Pets, that they would be responsible for feeding and cleaning out etc. But they promised faithfully that this would happen and so eventually you agree to them having pet Rabbits.

9 months on the novelty wears off. Do you just shrug your shoulders and rehome the Rabbit or do you set about making sure that your child/children stick by their promises ?

Question prompted by a situation that has arisen that has really pee'd me off.......................
 
personally i would not force my child to care for the rabbits, as i think they would resent them and it's not teaching them to willingly commit to their responsibilities. i would care for the rabbits myself, demonstrating that a pet is a lifelong commitment and someone has to care for them. i think that sets a better example to children, as kids will be kids and they have short attention spans sometimes - it is the adults responsibility to make the right decisions
 
i think any parent should understand that if they bring or allow an animal into the household, it is their responsibility. children might be encouraged to care for animals properly but ultimately, the care of the child and the care of the child's animals rests with the parent as the responsible adult in the scenario.
 
it's hard to imagine the situation because I don't believe rabbits are children's pets so would never get one for a child (not that I have a child!). If I had kids and decided to get a rabbit I think I would be of the opinion that the children should to help out, but that the responsibility fell at my feet.
 
i think any parent should understand that if they bring or allow an animal into the household, it is their responsibility. children might be encouraged to care for animals properly but ultimately, the care of the child and the care of the child's animals rests with the parent as the responsible adult in the scenario.

Totally agree with this. I would encourage my children to look after the pet themselves, but ultimately would not get it in the first place if I wasn't prepared to take the responsibility myself.
 
I would try to get them involved again but ultimately I would probably do it. It isn't fair on the rabbits to be rehomed but if they are stuck in hutch with no human interaction apart from feeding maybe it is better to rehome? Even if you forced the children to feed / clean them who will give them health checks and ensure human interaction?
 
personally i would not force my child to care for the rabbits, as i think they would resent them and it's not teaching them to willingly commit to their responsibilities. i would care for the rabbits myself, demonstrating that a pet is a lifelong commitment and someone has to care for them. i think that sets a better example to children, as kids will be kids and they have short attention spans sometimes - it is the adults responsibility to make the right decisions

I agree with this. I don't have children so I can't put myself into that position. You might be able to make someone do something but you can't make them do it gratiously and most animal would pick up on this...

Hannah :)

p.s. Moral to story - don't have children :lol:
 
Yes, I agree that the adult should accept that ultimately they are responsible for the care of the Rabbits. But even if the Rabbits are not rehomed, is it OK to just let the kids (brats in this case !!) turn away from their promises. I would still insist that they carried out the basics of feeding and cleaning, even if I had to shadow them as they did it. They would not get away with spending all evening on their (new) laptop instead.
 
I wouldn't buy animals for my kids - but then there's no need as we have so many :lol:

But in the situation you're detailing I'd be inclined to stop tidying up after them, stop cooking for them, stop washing for them etc. A little of their own medicine. I'm that sort of stubborn ass though :lol:
 
My daughter was nine when we had Rolo - don't shoot me down, I know I've made mistakes but that was before I found this lovely place!

Anyway, she helps out with his care and always has done but ultimately me or hubby do the bulk of the cleaning but that's fine with us but what I would say is that she loves him now just as much as she did when he arrived with us and spends loads of time with him. She's brilliant with him, espeically when he's been poorly and he needs syringe feeding and extra care.

I do think that children should be made to understand the meaning of responsibility - it's an important lesson for later life. Once you have kids, there's no turning back - there's been many a time when I've wondered whether a rescue would take my son (only joking :lol:)
 
When I think back to what me and my sister were like as kids, my sister had the rabbit as her responsibility, and I had mice. But we both needed to be nagged by my mum to clean them out. I wasn't allowed to have more mice after they died, and we were teenagers by the time the rabbit died. My mum had pretty much taken over responsibility for the rabbit by then. :oops:

So no, I guess if it were me, I wouldn't take on any animals that I didn't expect to be looking after myself after the kids lost interest.
 
No, I wouldn't force them to care for the animals, as they would resent that and I don't think that helps anyone or anybun. I would do the caring for them, but I'm afraid I would be very harsh with any future presents. Ie, if child got bored of rabbit and wanted dog/cat etc, it would be a simple no.

All hypothetical, of course, as I wouldn't buy a rabbit for a child :D
 
My mother forced me to look after them and I'm glad she did. I'm pretty sure I'm better with animals because she did. I did it with my sister as well, told her I'd rehome her guinea pigs until she started cleaning them out as often as they needed it. The threat was enough. I don't plan on having kids though.

I wasn't allowed to do anything 'fun' until the rabbit and guinea pig were cleaned out properly, fed, watered and played with.
 
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Beth was 5 when she asked for rabbits. We told her she could have them when she was 8 thinking that three years time she wouldn't be interested - wrong!

She went to the library, she looked online and we got 2 rabbits from our local rspca after getting a wendyhouse and a run and fencing the patio.

She was brilliant from age 8 to 12, she fed, watered, mucked out every day. Now everyday for those 4 years we had to ask her to do it but she went and did it all.

At age 12 she very bravely stayed with her rabbit Biccie when she had to be pts. I was so proud of her and the vet was astounded.

We kept to 2 rabbits then last year 3. Beth is now 15, shes started her GCSE's, has a boyfriend, and better social life than me:lol:

I now do the rabbits. We sat and discussed it after going from age 12 - 14 where it became a daily battle to get her to do the rabbits. I felt she was letting the rabbits down and it meant me double checking them constantly.

She does love them all, she 'plays' with them on sunny days but that's it. They are now my rabbits which I knew when we started out on the rabbit ownership that one day they would be mine. She also misses Biccie even now and the new rabbits just aren't Biccie. Not an excuse, but a reason for a kid.

I think that as our bunny numbers fall I possibly wouldn't replace them, I adore them and have no issues looking after them but cats are my first love.
 
I didn't ask for rabbits as a kid but I asked for a hamster when I was 6. My parents got me one knowing they were happy to do the cleaning, ect. I think they expected me to get bored but I never did. Now I have lots of pets :lol:

I personally wouldn't force a kid to do the cleaning. I'd encourage them to help but I just think forcing the "bad" side of ownership on them is more likely to put them off.
 
My Dad ended up always doing the big hutch clean, but I did litter trays, feeding, let them out, got them in and if my Mum wasn't available to drive me, walk them up to the vet (one at a time, it was about a mile or so but it felt like 10. Schumi was only Dutch but goodness me he felt like 10 stone!)

I guess I never lost interest as such, but they were always family pets, not just mine. Which is good, because we got Eddie when I was 17 and I went to uni a year later...

I'm not sure forcing children to look after them is a good thing, but I don't agree with parents absolving children of their responsibilities because they get bored. It perpetuates this throwaway culture we have.

:wave:
 
My oldest who's 13 has two rabbits of her own and my youngest 8 has two piggies. They both help with their care. I do the main deep clean and supper/tuck in but they do everything else. I sometimes have to remind my older one as she loses track of time but other than that she is good as gold.

They love them and spend a lot of time with them. But if they do lose interest i would take over as it would not be fair to the animals when i look after my four.
 
I think any pet is a family responsibility... But if the pet had been taken on ont he understanding that it was to be 'their' pet I would make them do the work.

My parents made me! I never got bored of my pets but I'm lazy and cleaning out isn't the most fun of jobs :oops: I was made to live up the the responsibility I had agreed to take on. I think it did me good and would do the same for my kids as and when. If that means double checking everything then so be it... I'll just grab a cuddle with said pet! :lol:
 
My parents always made me look after my pets, and I agree that it made me a better pet owner. Because I know that I need to do it. And I always did because otherwise nobody did. Now I love the time looking after the animals, it's one of my favourite times.
 
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