# I cannot believe this (human) kid is mine - funny story



## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

With two parents who were pretty strict rule-followers as kids, how is it that we ended up with the kid who would put a Tiger Salamander in his backpack and take it to school for his teacher? The salamander was loose in his backpack for the whole ride to school, apparently, just put in a zip-up pocket on the outside of it.

Wesley, who is in second grade, told her something about how she could be like Ms. Frizzle (The Magic School Bus teacher). Got to give Mrs. McIrvin a lot of credit - she totally turned it into a teaching moment instead of getting mad at him.

They put it in a habitat that another child brought in for the salamander ( they were about to start learning about habitats) and fed it mealworms. She plans to send it home with him later this week. In the mean time, I hit up my other kid for some of his mealworms that he raises in a container in his room, and we are sending in some mealworms to feed the salamander.

By the way, this happened last Monday, and I only heard about it Sunday night when his teacher called me. My two older kids knew about it and didn't clue me in that he had a salamander in his backpack on the bus ride to school.
Apparently, they all saw it when Peanut (our cat), the harbinger of doom to anything smaller and weaker than himself, was watching something intently. Wesley caught it so that Peanut wouldn't eat it, and tucked it in his backpack to take to school to show his teacher.

I used to catch bees in Alaska and play with them (we used to put them on our noses and just carry them around, they were so docile and unlikely to sting). But I never would have taken a lizard type critter to school.


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Love how all this was turned into a teaching moment! You have one quick thinking, creative son there!


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

That's pretty cool right there! I used to have a pet mouse I would carry around ... don't know why, but your story reminded me of that. :lol:


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## NubianFan (Jun 3, 2013)

I think that is adorable actually and a lot better than some of the ridiculous things my daughter has taken to school.


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## CritterCarnival (Sep 18, 2013)

What an awesome kid!! Too many kids today enjoy injuring small critters, it's refreshing to find one who just wants to share his find!!


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## milkmaid (Sep 15, 2010)

Haha, cute!


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

It is just truly so odd that I would have a kid like this. My husband and I were our parents' "good" kids, the ones that followed all the rules and wouldn't have dared to take a live creature to school without prior permission. We each have a sister, though, that would have pulled such a stunt. I swear if I didn't vividly remember giving birth to him, and that I know she wasn't pregnant at the time, that I might have some grounds for believing he was my sister's kid. He not only has a temper like her, but he has sandy hair, freckles and green hazel eyes, while I have dark hair, green brown eyes, and a lack of freckles on my face. My husband too has a lack of freckles on the face, yellow-brown eyes, and light-to-medium brown hair that used to be blonde. 

I thoroughly got a laugh out of this situation, though. He is a troublemaker who is also my best fishing buddy (the other two prefer hiking to fishing).


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

A picture of the goofy kid just for full effect. This was from when he and I were out camping and fishing this summer (with goats that needed milking at home, we divided up so that my husband took the two older ones out camping first, then we came up and took over the campsite while he and the older ones went back home to hold down the fort).


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

And after catching those fish, he did most of the cleaning on them. I just cut them open for him so he could get to work. Then we cooked him some fish for dinner and put the rest on ice.

By the way, today they fed the salamander a worm that they found outside at school. He says it pounced on the worm. And I bet he won't forget too much about learning about habitats from his 2nd grade year as he gets older.


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

That is so funny! And how awesome for the teacher not to punish but to turn it into a learning thing. Hopefully.....he doesn't get the idea that it's ok to do it again tho....bahahhaha


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## NubianFan (Jun 3, 2013)

See I don't even see this as rule breaking. I see this as thinking creatively. I know kids have to learn order and structure but I think our schools do a bang up job of smothering and stifling a child's creativity which in my opinion should be nurtured. That teacher was awesome that she realized this and built upon your sons creativity to teach a lesson about natural habitats. Unless your son had specifically been told. You don't bring live animals to school I doubt he saw it as rule breaking. He saw it as investigating and exploring his world. Kids don't naturally think like adults. Be glad he took a salamander . Mine took a pocket knife to show her friends in 1st grade and a corkscrew of mine in 3rd grade. I have NO idea why she took a corkscrew. Maybe it looked like some cool robot device to a kid. But talk about embarrassing made me look like a lush and I MAYBE drink something once a year... If that.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

lol..love it..and cute to boot...bet that smile saves him a lot of grief lol


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## Cactus_Acres (Sep 24, 2013)

It also so happens that the school counselor's son is around the same age, and he has been excited about the salamander too. I was in their school today because I had an IEP meeting for my daughter to attend. A good bit of the staff has heard about the salamander already. The first day they had it in there, they didn't have it in a habitat, and it got out of whatever it was caged in and was found hiding in another classroom. Hence a real habitat being set up so it couldn't escape.



The school secretary told me that they have had a child bring a rabbit in their backpack before, running loose in the backpack. The kid did have the forethought to bring some food pellets and a water bottle along with it. 

No, this child does out and out disobey me quite a bit. He is a smart, hard-working kid, but he has as short a fuse as he is tall (he is a small guy for his age). We hadn't had any talks about taking critters to school, you are right on that front. He is somewhat impulsive when it comes to doing stuff he wants to do. This was probably one of the few times where what he did wasn't actual disobedience, but just goofy little boy not quite thinking through what he was going to do with it once he got it to school. 

I am just tickled that it turned out so well, and that the class got to benefit from it. 

Here is a picture of a Tiger Salamander that we found under our house in the crawl space earlier this year. We turned this one loose somewhere else on the property. So he did take a pretty cool critter to school, that is for sure. 

Now what to do with it once they send it back home in a couple days.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

So cute. :laugh::thumbup::thumb:


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