Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Carrots had babies.....

Our bunny Carrots, had babies. 6 of them. They were all dead. I think she was too young. There was no nest or anything.
I showed the kids. They wondered what we were going to do with them. "let's bury them" "Are you going to put them in the garbage?" Olivia wanted to set them on the Hay bail so that they could eat when they got bigger. "They are dead honey, they won't wake up." "Can I touch it?" ....."um...sure." So we touched them. they were cold. they were stiff. they didn't move. Olivia said, "Can we squeeze them?"
Dylan said, "Yeah, theyre dead"
Olivia was very fascinated with them. If I had the guts (no pun intended) I would let them dysect the little guys.
"Soooooo, what should we do with them?"
and after touching them and realizing they were dead, Jackson said we should eat them.
Olivia replied "Yeah let's have them for lunch...but we have to cook them first!" Smart girl.
Don't worry....I could never cook the bunnies.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Whoa. I had to re-read this post. I love your website and "borrow" lots of your creative idea. I'm just trying to understand what would make you show the dead baby rabbits to your kids. Why is this appropriate for preschoolers? I am sincerely interested in your response. Thank you.

Quran Teacher said...

Same thinking as 'Sana' says

Annie's Alphabet said...

Good Questions ladies! My answer is, Why Not?
When my kiddos ask to do something I ask myself.... Is someone or something going to get hurt? And then I try to always respond with a Yes! to their requests.
Death is all around us. It's in our homes, our families, our neighborhoods. It is a natural part of living. It should not be scary or 'a secret'. Kids need to talk about it, share it, and in this case touch it. When we talk about death it becomes less scarey. I wanted to show them because... it happend. Why were the bunnies dead? One of the girls wanted to place the bunny on the hay because she thought the bunnies would start eating after they got bigger. After she touched and held them, she realized they were indeed dead. I think right there, shows how it's important for kids.
They were curious, they asked, I said Yes. We learned alot about the difference between a cold stiff dead bunny and a warm, squirmy, alive bunny. Heart beating vs no heart. They are cold because the heart is not pumping the blood through their body to keep them warm. All that cool sciency stuff.
The only thing I regret, is that during nap time I threw those bunnies away and after nap Dylan asked where they were.....he wanted to have a burial. Darn it! I missed a good oportunity there.
Next time.
Don't be afraid to talk about death. Kids need to talk.... And hopefully I inspired Olivia to be a doctor or scientist!!
Thank you for coming by and sharing!

Dacia said...

I am a parent of 2 kids that go to Annie's and I think her sharing the bunnies was wonderful. My kid's grandmother passed away last year and trying to teach a child about death has been hard. Everytime that we have a chance to talk about life and death with our son so he understands is a wonderful thing. He has dealt with losing someone close to him quite well because of people around him taking the opportunity to talk to him like Annie did by sharing dead bunnies with the kids. Thank you Annie!

copperdog said...

My daughter also goes to Annie's and I'm fully supportive of her letting the kids experience the dead bunnies. I think the squeemishness may come from us being told as a child "Don't touch dead things, don't play with dead things" when in reality it was more the fear of what kinds of gunk could you be catching from whatever was found rotting in the back woods...this was a very different case altogether.

erin said...

Annie, I just stumbled onto your blog and I also do in home childcare. I am so excited to find someone that has the same career as I do. There are so many SAHM on here with different and terrific craft and learning ideas. But hardly no child care providers. Yeah I have now found someone.

I don't see anything wrong with letting the children touch or see the dead bunnies. Death is a part of life and children should learn that unfortunate things happen in life.

I am going to follow you, and when i get some time I am going to read through your post. Please feel free to visit me as well if you like. I have two blogs and one of them is strictly my daycare blog.

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