Midnight Star
Contributor
I think exercising a good sense of judgement is the best thing in these types of situations. When I took my son to Florida last year, we went so I could show him things in the surf, tidal zones and jettie that he'd only seen in books; we had alot to see, so it really wasn't a quiet type of vacation. We held sea slugs, live scallops and clams, brittle stars, urchins and even picked up an anenome that was on a small rock so he could see how it retracts in itself being out of water. We caught flounder in hand held nets, then let them go. Then caught and looked over a large slider turtle in the springs - I doubt that thing will ever trust another human again! This way, he was able to see how cool some things really are in life, where they live and what they might eat. We were very careful not to harm anything we handled, used "gloved hands", and released it back into the area it came from. He's beginning to see that in every place, in every location, something living exists - and he learns to appreciate and respect the living things around him.
