Lifespan Teaching to Children -Hamsters

Teaching children about life issues

The fact of life is our pets will die before we do. There is no way around that unless you, yourself are dying or are somehow involved in a tragic death of your own. Thus we must deal with death along with the fact that if children are present they to need to be told about the life cycle.

I understand fully that it is the hardest thing to talk about with children. In the last 5 years I have had to tell my son 4 times that our hamster(s) have passed on and although the body is present the soul of the hamster has gone on to a better place and in our case, a safer place.

We have allowed our son to name almost every hamster we have had. From the first to our last the names are: Habnab, Ert-Ert, Brain, and Cocoa Bean. The only one not to die of old age is Cocoa Bean which was a hamster given to us, because the owners were no longer interested in having a hamster. He died, while we were on vacation, when he somehow escaped his cage and was found two days later by the people that were taking care of our pets – unfortunately he died and the two cats we had at the time were batting him around like a toy.

The last to die was Brain. She was named after the Nickelodeon TV show: “Pinky and the Brain.” To this day my husband and I are not sure why he named her Brain and not Pinky because she looked more like Pinky than the Brain. Oh well, it was his choice and we went along with it. This was our way of letting our son know that as a family member he has some say in some of the choices that are made in the family. We also liked to see what type of names he could come up with. He also named several of the other animals in our household.

Brain died last night and had a 2-year lifespan, which is about normal for a little gal like her. Rodents don’t live very long and thus 2 years was a long time in this case. Unfortunately, this hamster unlike our others was standoffish and was left alone so for 2 years we let her be and just made sure she had food and water and cleaned her cage about every 2 weeks. The one thing that she was was my nighttime company. As rodents are usually night creatures they are more active when we are ready to go to bed.

Domesticated rodents are a good way to teach children of all ages the lifespan cycle, as their life is short. They are also good because they are easy to take care of and children can help with the maintenance of the cage and rodent. They are also great in terms of amount of space they need. The only space that is a must is the size of the cage and there are some cages that are pretty small.

Their life with you starts the minute you and your children decide to bring the hamster home from a pet store or hamster breeder. You will need to have a cage with a wheel, some bedding (wood chips or the like), hamster food, and a water tube. Most of the cages come with a wheel and a water tube. You may also want to look for a cage with a look out post (a small compartment attached to a tube from the cage) or somewhere where they can hide and sleep. The hamsters love to store their food where they think no one can see it. This is instinctive from the time before they became domesticated when they would have to store their food from prey and or from the environmental elements.

The amount of interaction between the family and the hamster deepens on several factors. One, it depends on how much you want to be involved with them. Maybe you are the type that just wants an animal to look at but not really to touch and play with on a daily basis; maybe you are busy and have little time for them. Because hamsters are loners most of the time this should be ok too. Don’t feel sorry for them if there are days when you can’t spend time with them they can create their own activities to keep them busy. They are not like cats and dogs that need constant attention! Secondly, it depends on the hamster’s personality. Some of them, like or last one, are standoffish and would rather be left alone. The only way to find out is to interact with him for several weeks and if he continues to bite you and you hear chattering noises than the he wants to be left alone. Those types of hamsters would rather you look at them not interact with them. If children are involved make sure they understand that a he is somewhat fragile and cannot be played with in the same way as a cat or dog.

The one thing that should be done initially – maybe even before you bring a hamster -- home is to get an owner’s manual that can be found at any pet store and certainly online at any of a number of websites. You should read this to your child(ren) so that they know as much as you do about the basics of hamster care. Remember to take your child’s age into account when going over the manual. This means that maybe you won’t read the whole book to them but let them look at the pictures and discuss what type of hamster they would like as well as paraphrasing the basic ideas that are present in the book.

At first, children will be gung-ho about the hamster even bugging you at times about wanting to play with the hamster. This is completely normal – my son bugged his dad and me all the time about wanting to play with the hamster(s). The thing to do is discuss with them that the hamster sleeps in the day and is up at night. Then give the child a few minutes to a half-hour to play with her before bed – maybe it could be a bedtime ritual. Advice: Let all his interactions be his choice. If the child does not feel comfortable with holding the her at first let him watch you play with the her. Also for the first week or two pick an adult or older child to play with the her solely until the hamster feels safe and comfortable with human contact. Shewill be afraid at first and bite (sometimes hard), which may frighten a young child into never wanting to touch the hamster even when it does become tame.

As time passes, the hamster will become like a member of the family and sometimes even forgotten by the child(ren) in the house. Don’t force him on them at this time because then they might resent the hamster. When the child does ask about him you may want to then discuss the possibilities of her playing with the hamster later that night before bed. The hamster should be something fun and should never be pushed on young children.

Towards the end of the second year, or when the hamster starts to show some signs of fatigue and lack of enthusiasm, you should start talking to your children about old age and death being the next step in life. Depending on your beliefs you might want to discuss what happened after our life has ended on earth. Use this time as a way to teach the child. Don’t frighten her with graphic details and horror stories about when you lost Fido and your parents told you nothing about death. The should be reassured that the animal is in a better place were there is no pain and discomfort and their will be a day when you will be reunited with him in eternal life (again use digression depending on your beliefs and the age of the child). If it will help you and your child out you may want to hold a funeral in your yard to bury the hamster in the ground. This helps bring closure on the life you enjoyed with the hamster as well as giving everyone a chance to say good-bye.

The lifespan of an animal is the ultimate way to teach your child about life and death issues. A rodent such as a hamster or Guinea pig are probably the best animals to have if you are wanting to teach the child about the issues because they are short lived and thus giving an easy way to teach a young child about lifespan. This will help them deal with deaths in the family as well. As the child gets older and great-grandparents and grandparents die from old age and disease you can remind them about the deaths of the hamster and how it is the same way with people. We all must die it is just the way of life. If you believe in life eternal you might want to discuss that and also mention that we will be reunited with our loved ones when we die. But while we are here on earth we can hold them in our hearts as we remember the good times we shared with loved ones that have died.

Life holds many lessons! Don’t let an animals life go to waste use them as a tool to teach your children about life and death. Don’t put fear in the hands of children by never speaking about life and life after death. Fear only causes emotional pain and the unknown makes that pain even worse. Don’t wait until a loved one dies to teach your children about death.

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