I woke up the other night to a strange squeaking sound in my kitchen.  This was followed by a lot of noises coming from my trashcan.  I tried to sneak up on the noise and catch the culprits red handed, but they were too savvy for that!  No matter how quietly and stealthily I crept, they were gone when I yanked open the trash.  I would go back to bed.  Just as I stopped fuming long enough to drift off to sleep, the little critters would begin doing acrobatics (and lots of non G-rated things I am sure) again.  I would jump out of bed and creep towards the kitchen… and so it went.  I did not get ANY sleep.  I was completely grossed out thinking about something of the rodent variety in my house!  In my kitchen!  Near the food that we eat!

Now my kids seem to waffle back and forth between being terrified of critters and bugs and wanting them for pets.  Doesn’t seem to be much in between.  Ever since we read “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh” all mice are either Mrs. Frisby or some relation.  First they looked at me with terror.  Then they (sure enough) wanted to catch it for a pet.  So how do I deal with this problem?  I don’t want them to be more scared of the natural world than they already are.  I don’t want to traumatize them by killing Mrs. Frisby (in front of them).  Yet, I also have to protect my family from varmints!

I considered the options.  My skin crawled.  So this post is really for my kids to read down the road.  It is what really happened to the mice.

What my kids know:

I ordered a humane mouse trap.  Next day delivery.

It very sweetly has a spot for a peanut butter cracker to be placed.  The mouse smells it and then is trapped and unharmed.  You take the trap to an outdoor spot (far from your home) and open the trap.  The mouse has to eat through the cracker to escape.  This keeps you from coming into contact with the mouse, and calms the mouse, giving it a full belly and a better chance for survival.   All very humane and lovely.

My kids were all in.  My skin is still crawling.  We set the trap and voila:

cute little mouse.  (skin crawling right now!!)

I caught one before I could even go to bed.  After a few heeby jeeby dances around the kitchen from the grossness, I got in the car and took it to the woods.  Middle of the night, 0 degrees, no actual ground to be seen under 2 feet of snow.  No matter, I let the little thing go.  No violence to report, albeit a little hypothermia and certain death from freezing.  But hey, there is always the chance another mouse family took it in.

I am so damn tired from the night time creepy crawlies that I can barely make it home to bed.  I get stuck in the driveway from all the snow.  I curse.  I dig myself out.  Curse a little bit more.  I reset the trap.  Wash my hands about 10 times.  Final cursing.  Pass out.  Next morning:

Voila!  Another little critter.  This time the kids are awake and not gonna miss a trick.  A lot of “It’s so cute!” and “Do you think it is Mrs. Frisby? or one of her kids?” and my favorite, “can we keep it?”

On the way to school we take it to the park and watch it eat it’s way to freedom.  Everybody happy.

What my kids don’t know:

I came home and called in the guy with the nuclear weapons.  I did try to find the guy who would use the most humane way of killing them.   No more mice.  Problem solved.

Now the question is this:  Which is better?  To teach kids about the ‘real world’ or protect them from it?  And when is the right age to throw them to the wolves?

Since there are such strong opinions in both directions, I am gonna assume that the jury is still out on this one.  I decided to follow my heart.  I decided to forge the middle path.  Protect their hearts and kindness to all God’s creatures AND protect them from being exposed to mice.  Then,  protect them from having to know the lengths I would go to, to protect them.  There is plenty of time for life’s reality.  It is coming soon enough.  For now, they can go to bed in a mice free zone, dreaming about how Mrs. Frisby got another chance.    And I hopefully will get a good night’s sleep as well.