"Hi Liam & Mom.
The crabs had a good sleepover in their habitat. All five went right into the water this morning.
Liam has become obsessed with collecting creatures. This is completely and totally annoying to me, but I try to roll with it. The main difficulty, besides the annoyance, is the fact that very few of the creatures survive collection or captivity, and I'm not comfortable with the message that seems to send. Some version of: "Sure, scoop up these bugs/moths/worms/snails/whatever and squish them into jars/tupperware/ziplock bags/your pocket/whatever, it doesn't matter if they live or not."Love Grandma"
So, we've been working on some values (not okay to kill things) and some procedures (you can have two jars for bugs and one jar at the ready in case you catch a butterfly. . .one kind of bug in each jar. . . .you can keep the bugs overnight but you have to release them the next day. . ..) We've had some limited success with this. Mostly I just hope the phase passes soon.
On the 4th of July he ventured a trip to the beach and collected some little beach crabs which he put in a bucket with some rocks, shells, and salt water. My mother returned them to the Sound the next morning.
Did I mention that one of his obsessions is he wants to take pictures of all the creatures he collects? "Mommy I just love them so much. . .please can we take a picture." Really ready for this to be over.
1 comment:
Hmmm.....do you think Liam would like some pet fish or hermit crabs to have all to himself? Hermit crabs are pretty fun pets and fairly low maintenance....we've had them in the past for The Teenager. If not, as you say, maybe he'll just outgrow wanting these living things. Creepy, crawly, living things! You may have a marine biologist or some other sort of biologist on your hands there! :)
Love,
Maddy
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