My daughter turned 10 the other day, which moves her a step closer to the teenager era and me closer to being an old fart.  I still can’t fully comprehend that she’s 10 already.  It still feels as  yesterday when she wanted to be dragged around the house on my feet, playing with her dolls and drawing strange stick people + landscapes on the living room walls, while chasing the dog with her pushbike.

According to her, turning 10 was the most scary moment in her life.  She’s no longer a single digit aged girl.  Her teacher might expect more of her and us parents my give her more chores – again, her words!  … she might be right, but she still needs to be a kid and not grow up too fast.

So, what did my little princess want for her birthday?

Well, here’s a lesson to all you parents out there.  Don’t promise a kid a live animal when he/she is only 5, and that they will get that animal when they turn 10.  Kids remember these things and they will remind you until you fulfil this obligation.  And so it happened to us as well.

We had promised her a rabbit for years and for the past few months leading up to her 10th birthday her begging and reminding was relentless.  Not a day went by without some subtle hints about the rabbit; Netflix movies, drawings, books about rabbits, increased appetite for carrots and finding all rabbit sounds adoring.

And so it happened, my wife persuaded me to get our daughter a rabbit, and within minutes I had located a few wild rabbits in the garden and even a few farm rabbits for sale for $10 – perfect.  It would be so amazing to tame a wild rabbit!

But, I was put in my place by both daughter and wife, and kindly informed that rabbits come from proper rabbit breeders with awesome pedigree rabbits.  $100 later and one tiny rabbit was booked, but not available until early April.

Phase two of bringing any new animal in to the house is getting all the right gear,  A quick visit to the local PetSmart franchise ensured that we are now the proud owners of a proper pimp-my-cage house for the newcomer, all custom fitted interior such as light bull, ramp, jacuzzi, toys and imported straw.  All bow to our Visa friends!

All we need now is the arrival of the rabbit formerly known as bunny!

I do know that in the real World I’ll end up walking this little dude, which will be a hilarious sight, given I’ll be bringing the St Bernard along too.  Just a man walking his bitches on a cup-de-sac somewhere in Jersey!

I do want her take full responsibility of the fluffy thing, which I’m sure she will – although it might only last for a week, and then her room starts to smell like a small farm  BUT, she could totally redeem herself and be an awesome pre-teen girl who suddenly decides to be a responsible rabbit owner.

Now, we can only hope, right 🙂

What animal did you promise your child?  Did you fulfil your promise?