My youngest child, Mr. Attitude, saved the life of a kitten yesterday.
We have five kittens, about 7-8 weeks old, among the outside cats. The kids have named them Fuzzy, Fluffy #1, Fluffy #2, Fluffy #3, and Tiny Calico. They all bear a resemblance to our sometimes-indoor tomcat, Alexander, with long brownish hair and white paws.
Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Attitude went outside just in time to see Fluffy #1 hanging by her neck. She had gotten tangled in the frayed ends of a blue tarp that covered a table. Mr. A yelled "Daddy! A kitten is choking!" While The Hermit ran for a knife, Mr. A held the kitten up so it was not hanging anymore. The Hermit cut her free; she was unconscious but still alive. Mr. A gently massaged her and got her to start breathing again, then when she was fully conscious he brought her to her mother, where she nursed gratefully. By the time I got home, Fluffy #1 was playing around like she always did, except whenever she saw Mr. Attitude, she ran to him. She somehow knows. When I heard the story, I picked Fluffy #1 up and held her close. Life is so fragile and precious.
I am amazed that a three year old knew just how to respond and what to do, and at the level of compassion he has for these pets. He is still excited about killing the meat chickens, so I think he has an understanding of how certain animals have certain places in our lives. We are grateful for the chickens who will give us nourishment, and grateful for the cats that take care of flying rodents and teach us compassion.
5 comments:
Great story. And great kid...
I'll bet you're one proud momma! It's great when our kids make a good call.
Deb-
That is a sweet story!
Thanks for your thoughts at our blog, and our Mr. Attitude is improving daily.
I enjoy browsing your blog, reading your thoughts, and it seems we have very much in common.
As if the love of kids (ours are grown-sort of), organic gardening, simplicity, peace, music and wildlife weren't enough...
We own the movies O Brother Where Art Thou and Lonely Are The Brave; we have just about every CD by Greg Brown, John Prine, Bob Dylan and some by Kate Wolf & Bela Fleck too.
We have all of Ed Abbey's and David James Duncan's books, many of Wendell Berry's too and, of course Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac; and we have been greatly influenced in our thinking by Scott & Helen Nearing as well.
I play a little guitar & ukelele, and we have lots of musician friends, so I suspect that if we lived in close proximity of each other we'd all be great friends.
Thanks again for your kind words, these are pretty difficult days for us.
Love,
Jim & Peggy
Caring for animals while a kid translates into caring for people and eventually our own kids as adults. Your little guy did a wonderful thing.
Thanks everyone, I'm pretty proud of my little guy, even though he still knows how to drive Mom crazy most of the time!
Jim & Peggy- It sure sounds like we have more than a few things in common! Thanks for taking the time to visit here, even though these days must be pretty busy for you. I added a link to Earth Home Garden and I will be visiting it a lot more in the upcoming days! That's what I like about blogging; I have found a whole community of nice, thoughtful folks out there.
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