Pet Idea Straight From PBS Kids and Kindergarten

What happens when your child's Kindergarten class spends the week learning about bats, and then PBS Kids runs a cartoon show about how cool real bats are?  Bats become reinforced as the must have pet choice.


My 5 yr old's Kindergarten class did spend a whole week talking all about bats. Every day we got new and detailed information about all the different types of bats and how cool they are.  Then, PBS Kids' Wild Kratts ran a cartoon show about brown bats. Nifty.

Now, it has been thoroughly reinforced that bats are awesome and we must have one. Now. As a pet.

My 5 yr old:
"We need to get a brown bat as a pet. Call Petsmart and see if they have any. If they don't they will call you when they get some in. Then, they will tell you which ones are diseased and which ones are not. Let's get one without disease. They will tell us to keep it inside so it wont get a fungus from outside. By the way, what color  is bat fungus? I want to know so I can avoid it when I go outside. Yeah. Bats are cool."

Wow. Just. Really. Wow.
Bats, huh?
From Petsmart, apparently.

PD Warning Against Giving Alcohol to Minors Inspires My 5 Yr Old to Become Alcoholic

Yesterday Held Unexpected Outcomes When Our Local PD Raised Awareness of Alcohol Abuse in Minors  with BRIGHT FLASHY Road Signage... And Now My 5 Yr Old Is Planning to Become an Alcoholic. D'OH!

"Mom, when I am 21 and I have a job, I am going to have a Woodchuck for breakfast every day before I go to work as a video game designer."

Way to aim high baby.

Then she says, "Is that Illegal?" 

Yeah, sort of. 

It all happened as we were running our errands around town yesterday. See, our local PD has a flashing road sign that is always lit up with some semi-humorous quote such as "Free Photos with ever DUI" or something like that. They are really trying to help the drunk driving and underage drinking problem by raising awareness locally. Yesterday, the signage was talking about how it is illegal to host a drinking party in your own home for minors.  

My 5 yr old got really annoyed when she read that.  "WHAT??! You mean we aren't allowed to have soda or water or juice or anything at our parties anymore??!!"   So, I had to explain that it was referring to alcohol. That if you are under the age of 21 you are not allowed to legally drink alcohol.  She asked, "What is alcohol? Coke? You say Coke is a grown up drink and won't let us have any."  I said, "No. Not Coke. Coke is just unhealthy. I let you drink that sometimes. Beer. Beer is alcohol."  My child responds, "OH! Well. Beer is gross. Ladies and girls do NOT drink beer. Only boys drink beer." 

Well, at least at the ripe old age of 5 she has standards.  So, I tell her that isn't the case. Some women do like beer. For example, the Woodchuck Cider that mommy sometimes drinks on a rare occasion could be considered a beer in certain circles.  She says, "Ah."

Long Pause.

Then...

"Mom, when I am 21 and I have a job, I am going to have a Woodchuck for breakfast every day before I go to work as a video game designer."

*note. We are not "drinkers" in our house. We might get a 6 pack of something and it will take myself and my husband 3 months to finish it. Currently, we don't even have any wine or cooking wine in the house.... this is why this declaration humors me so very much. It was purely prompted by the anti-minor alcohol abuse signage!