4 ms·

One could easily argue that if an animal isn't safe to be left alone with children 6 and under that it is a very bad choice for a pet. Kids would have fun playi

One could easily argue that if an animal isn't safe to be left alone with children 6 and under that it is a very bad choice for a pet. Kids would have fun playing with a tiger cub too. Just get a cat.

tokai 4y ago
Cats can also be dangerous for young kids.
- sigzero 4y ago
  Dogs do this as well. We've had several pairs of ferrets. No incidents with 4 kids growing up.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    Correct, and as expected. Thanks for the backup.
pxc 4y ago
There really are no animals that are safe to be left alone with children under 6. Critters of any species are liable to bite or scratch if they are badly hurt, scared, or trapped, and kids are clumsy, energetic, unpredictable, and often very rough with animals (usually without any malice, of course). And with small animals (e.g., cats, ferrets, dogs under 10 lbs), an unsupervised 5-year-old is a danger to the animal, too. A kindergartener tripping and falling on a tiny animal like that can break bones! Animals can be great with kids and vice-versa, but it's really important to always maintain supervision with kids and animals.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  ...Seems you too didn't read what I actually said about the actual age and my caveat. Does the word 'perhaps' mean anying to you? May I suggest you provide me with sample text that would make my points unambiguously clear?
  - Dylan16807 4y ago
    That comment wasn't talking to you, and wasn't about what you said.
    - hilbert42 4y ago
      Fine, I accept that, my humble apologies.
hilbert42 4y ago
I did say perhaps six, that is I didn't stipulate a specific age. Moreover, I also put a caveat to the effect that it ought to be illegal to own a ferret if kids were of an age where they were unable to protect themselves. What more could I've said to be reasonable? Clearly there's no pleasing some people no matter how reasonable or considered one's comments are - and you're one of them. Your ludicrous implication that a ferret is as dangerous as a tiger cub points to the degree of how unreasonable you actually are. Incidentally, despite not owing one as a pet, I've actually held and played with ferrets and I found them great fun and they've never bitten me - unlike some family cats I've known. As I've posted previously on HN, I thank myself truly lucky that I grew up in an era before overprotective helicopter parenting and thus - unlike many of today's generation - I along with my friends grew up with both autonomy and resilience. There would have been nothing further from my parents' minds than the thought of my parents banning me from owning a ferret and by the standards of the day they were overprotective of me (I used to whinge about it when I saw what my friends' parents let them get up to). P.S., thanks for the downvote. - Edit/afterthought: decades ago when I was a kid I was living outside the US and up to that point I'd never been there let alone California. Even so, at that young age I well aware of CA's well deserved reputation of being the 'whacky' state - the whole world was aware of the fact. Thus it's little wonder CA's the odd-man-out on ferret laws, it's just acting true to form.

tokai 4y ago

Cats can also be dangerous for young kids.

sigzero 4y ago
Dogs do this as well. We've had several pairs of ferrets. No incidents with 4 kids growing up.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  Correct, and as expected. Thanks for the backup.

pxc 4y ago

There really are no animals that are safe to be left alone with children under 6. Critters of any species are liable to bite or scratch if they are badly hurt, scared, or trapped, and kids are clumsy, energetic, unpredictable, and often very rough with animals (usually without any malice, of course). And with small animals (e.g., cats, ferrets, dogs under 10 lbs), an unsupervised 5-year-old is a danger to the animal, too. A kindergartener tripping and falling on a tiny animal like that can break bones! Animals can be great with kids and vice-versa, but it's really important to always maintain supervision with kids and animals.

hilbert42 4y ago
...Seems you too didn't read what I actually said about the actual age and my caveat. Does the word 'perhaps' mean anying to you? May I suggest you provide me with sample text that would make my points unambiguously clear?
- Dylan16807 4y ago
  That comment wasn't talking to you, and wasn't about what you said.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    Fine, I accept that, my humble apologies.

hilbert42 4y ago

I did say perhaps six, that is I didn't stipulate a specific age. Moreover, I also put a caveat to the effect that it ought to be illegal to own a ferret if kids were of an age where they were unable to protect themselves. What more could I've said to be reasonable? Clearly there's no pleasing some people no matter how reasonable or considered one's comments are - and you're one of them. Your ludicrous implication that a ferret is as dangerous as a tiger cub points to the degree of how unreasonable you actually are. Incidentally, despite not owing one as a pet, I've actually held and played with ferrets and I found them great fun and they've never bitten me - unlike some family cats I've known. As I've posted previously on HN, I thank myself truly lucky that I grew up in an era before overprotective helicopter parenting and thus - unlike many of today's generation - I along with my friends grew up with both autonomy and resilience. There would have been nothing further from my parents' minds than the thought of my parents banning me from owning a ferret and by the standards of the day they were overprotective of me (I used to whinge about it when I saw what my friends' parents let them get up to). P.S., thanks for the downvote. - Edit/afterthought: decades ago when I was a kid I was living outside the US and up to that point I'd never been there let alone California. Even so, at that young age I well aware of CA's well deserved reputation of being the 'whacky' state - the whole world was aware of the fact. Thus it's little wonder CA's the odd-man-out on ferret laws, it's just acting true to form.