Reefing + Parenting = ???

S

stgla

Premium Member
I swore that I was breaking down my last tank when my wife was pregnant, but she coaxed me back into the hobby and now my toddler's new play room is also my playroom, as I'm almost done setting up a 75g reef tank in there.

Last night as my soon was helping me throw LR rubble into the sump and then gazing directly into my metal halides it occurred to me that maybe I'm doing something really foolish here.

After all, I did just buy a 100-pack of razor blades, several new dremel attachments, and a nice big jar of purple pipe dope. Put those in the same house as a curious toddler who is remarkably precocious at climbing (not to mention throwing), and has mastered the use of all of Daddy's ladders, and well, I should be turned in to social services.

So, besides your usual cabinet locks for the sump space and equipment drawers, are there tips I need to know about from those of you experiened at raising both reef animals AND human fry?

I was planning on teaching him a healthy fear and respect for the tank. I hope that among his first words are "nematocyst" and "palytoxin" and "don't play ball in the house."

I am almost afraid to request the horror stories, but let's hear 'em. I need to know.
 
"What's this for Daddy?"

"That is fish food."

"What do you do with it?"

"I put it into the tank when the fish are hungry."

"Ooooohhh" *son proceeds to dump the whole can of flake food into the tank!
 
That's funny! I'm sure if my sump was open to the world one of my dogs would jump in. Or more likely: drink from it...
 
I have a 4yr old and a 1yr old, both boys, and everyother weekend my stepkids,10yr old girl, and 5yr old boy. However, our 75 is in our BEDROOM, and I've only had one mishap: my 4yr old dumped a good bit (probably about 1/4-1/2 cup) of baby powder in the sump. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, I would suggest finding another playroom for the little one. If NOT, then just don't speak to him like a child, just explain things as SIMPLY as possible, using references he'll understand. Like for example(as used above),
"Daddy, what's that?"
fish food
"what do you do with it"
feed the fish when they are hungry, but hunny watch.... this is how much they can have, SHOW him and let him do it, then give a refrence like, "remember when you ate all that candy and it made your tummy hurt? well, we can't feed the fishies more than what we just did or it will make their belly hurt, and we don't want that to happen do we?" "And hunny, always remember, you have to ASK mmmy or daddy FIRST, ok?" And to be honest, INCLUDE him as much as you can, always explaining, and repeating, and this will make them less curious, make them feel a part of things and knowledgeable about what Daddy is doing. And CHILD SAFE EVERYTHING, even the things you think don't matter, and ALWAYS remember, if he's quiet for more than 1 MINUTE, he's doing something he's not supposed to be doing!! :lol:

Happy Reefing + Parenting :D

Brianna:rollface:
 
keep wires out of reach from the back sides of the cabnet, and so far pb&j in the sump hasnt killed anything, happened ounce, my advice, i have 4 kids and one more on the way, try not to let them see you do things, like cleaning adding supplements, kids like to copy you, you add water to your sump, tommorow its a juice box, i had the cabinet door latches on mine, to keep my daughter out, she opened them enough to slip her hand in the crack and and feed the sump some pbj, its alot of fun :), keep all chemicals/food far out of reach
 
The more you keep them away from it, the more curious about it they are. However, the more involved they feel, the less inclined they are to do damage. For instance, the baby powder incident happened the day after Daddy wouldn't let him help do anything. It was more of a "well, fine then, if you won't let me help, I'll do it on my own" NO, don't let them help with suppliments or anything dangerous to them, but children by nature are the most curious little things on Gods earth, the more you educate them (starting as young as possible) about things the better. This has been our approach with our kids, and it has worked VERY well!!
JMO,
Brianna:rollface:
 
Everything is on a GFCI and the wires are hidden (the boy LOVES wires). One of the things I do is have lots of others toys for him to play with and be distracted by and never leave him unattended. (The Kent Pro Scraper is NOT a toy, but I do let him play with plumbing parts and the turkey baster).

Usually when he's quiet for more than a few seconds he is pooping in place.

I'm very scared by the people who said that in groups kids throw out the rules. My boy has a one-year old cousin who I can see egging him on to bad things (or vice versa).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6567625#post6567625 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stgla
...I'm very scared by the people who said that in groups kids throw out the rules. My boy has a one-year old cousin who I can see egging him on to bad things (or vice versa).
Click to expand...

This, unfortunately, is usually true. Just don't leave them together unattended. As long as they can't physically get into anything because of childsafing measures, I wouldn't worry just yet about the one year old either. Also, I would observe them, without them knowing it of course, the first few times they play together in the room, to see how they do interact with out a parent around. Stepping in only if necessary.

Brianna:rollface:
 
i don't have kids of my own, but i helped raise my now 17-yr old nephew & 13-yr old niece. when i was in college & they were 8 & 5 i gave them their own goldfish tank that i helped them with. they were little angels with it for awhile. then 1 evening, i came out of my room to the sounds of angelic laughter in the living room. i knew right away something was up cuz that laughter was too much. they were throwing the floating thermometer at the fish to see how many fish they could "catch". plus half the food was floating around in the tank. little devils! i could have strangled them. i essentially grounded them & told them their dad would definitely be told & told them the tank now belonged to me. they ended up being so good for the rest of the year i relented & they got to "keep" the tank until i graduated & moved down to the bay.

i guess i should have kept a better eye on them & realized that kids & their own fish tanks do not work. they definitely need adult supervision!
 
I have 6 children and used to have a daycare in my home. While I didn't start with salt water fish until two years ago. I have always had fresh water fish. I can tell you many a horror story. Like the time the 2 year old I was babysitting climbed out of the crib during naptime, opened my son's model paint and poured it in the fish tank. The end of the fish and that fish tank. I have had 3 jars of fish food dumped into my tanks over the years by different children. Or the time I caught my son "petting" the fish. "Why isn't he moving anymore, Mommy?"

I do think that telling your children exactly what you are doing helps. My three year old son didn't realize that fish needed to be in the water to breathe. If I had told him that, he might not have taken his friend out to play.

I have my children help me feed the fish and show them how much and how often they need to eat. I have even had them help me with the test kits. Hey, I call it Chemistry and it counts toward their science.

The same things hold true for all animals. I had a friend whose child hugged the hamster. Unfortunately, the hamster didn't survive the hug. Kids need to be told everything, even things that we think are obvious.

My children have learned responsibility by having pets. We have 1 hamster, 1 parakeet, 2 leopard geckos, 1 snake, 1 cat and 1 poodle and our new baby, a golden retriever. They are learning many valuable life lessons by taking care of something that is relying on them for everything. I wouldn't take that lesson away from them. I would just be careful what you leave out (razor blades, wires, etc...) and keep them involved and informed about what you are doing. They know more than we think. :D

And who knows what the next generation of salt water enthusiasts will be like after having been around it all their lives.
 
For the most part, no matter what they do to the tank it can be fixed. I have two little ones and the most important thing to me is keeping them safe. The light, the wires, blades, chemicals and don't forget the sump. If your sump is accessible a toddler could drown. Sounds extreme but so does a toddler drowning in a 5 gal. bucket (That's why most buckets have warning labels on them).
Good luck
 
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