[Sonny M]

I always thought that Free Republic should at least look at some of these "advice columinist" and give their own opinions.

[RockinRight]

Actually I'd say I agree with both responses.

[twigs]

The parents may not know about the pgymy status of animals. A much more important issue is the number of parents who set their kids up on the fences surrounding dangerous animals so that they can get a better look.

[Alain Chartier]

In the first case, I would tell the docent, mind your own business. In the second, I would say, consider what's best for your daughter -- that is purpose of your marriage. It's been years since I trusted anything Dear Abby wrote

[eastsider]

Respect your child ... ask a keeper

[NutmegDevil]

I had a close friend, in his mid fifties and schooled in very rural North Carolina, who knew that mice are baby rats & blackbirds (aka starlings & grackles) are baby crows. I could not convince him otherwise.

[GregoTX]

".....they will tell their child that pygmy species are actually babies of large animals. I have also seen them give incorrect information about animal behavior, diet and habitat. "

OK... I will make sure to do this next time Im in the zoo with the kids. I think everytime I am withen earshot of a zoo keeper I will tell the kids that kitty kitty will grow up to be a real lion when he gets old, an Polar bears are white because they eat to much ice cream.

[sitetest]

In the first case, the zookeeper should keep in mind that some folks may be misinformed, themselves. They think they "know" certain "facts" and pass them to their children. It's likely that when discussing other subjects with their own children, zookeepers unwittingly transmit their own set of false "facts" to them. The zookeeper should accept the foibles of fellow humans, and bite his tongue.

In the second case, it's astonishing how breezily the advice giver recommends divorce. Or not, if one is familiar with the pagan, Dear Abby.

[Fire_on_High]

Eh, I thought the advice about the animals was pretty sound. I've kept several types of (semi)exotic pets over the years and had to deal with some pretty amazing misconceptions from others about them.

I always do quite a bit of research about them since I like to give any pets I own the best lives possible. With most of the pets I had I could point others to the same sources and correct them, but for some reason the litter of hairless rats I raised from birth seemed to dumbfuzzle everyone :-)

What I never got was why some thought I was wantonly cruel for taking care of one that we figured out was blind. Near as we can tell, he was blind from birth and with only a little more attention than a normal rat, got along so well most ppl didn't realize he was blind until told. His ears, nose, whiskers, and seemingly keen memory made up for his eyes. He'd feel his way around a new cage once or twice, then navigate it flawlessly from then on.

He was actually one of my favorites, all told, since he was one of the sweetest and most trusting. He had the personality commonly regarded as "perfect" for a male pet rat. He led a very spoiled life and made a superb ambassador of ratkind...well, except to that poor JW, but that's another story :-)

[Ditto]

Children are little vessels. If you fill their heads with nonsense, they'll pour it forth at a later date -- embarrassing themselves in front of friends or in the classroom....

or on the pages of the New York Times or TV News shows or the floor of congress.

[MEGoody]

heard parents, out of ignorance or impatience, lie to their child about the animals they are observing.

If they do it out of ignorance, it isn't lying.

MEGoody cringes at zookeepers who don't know definitons of words.

[dead]

I tell my kids that hippos are midget elephants and Big Bird is a giant gay canary.

They need to know the truth about these things, not the gibberish some zoo keeper's gonna babble on about.

[bella1]

In regard to the first letter, I say who cares! On a scale of 1 to 10 in the misinformation department this one rates about a 0.5.

As for the second; Honey, you married him. I would bet that he told you exactly how he felt before the marriage, but you undoubtedly thought he would change. He's in his 50's. Get real. Maybe he doesn't feel like dealing with teenagers when he is 70. Grow up.

[Always Right]

I think the zoo keeper should butt out. It is none of his business and just a pet peeve of his. It is not like parents are the only place you get misinformation from. I had a teacher tell me you can't subtract 5 from 2, and when I tried to explain negative numbers using a thermometer as an example she got mad. Of all the misinformation, if a child is misinformed what a pygmie is, so what.

[waverna]

At what point is it OK to make a decision you know will hurt someone else just for yourself?

If that 'someone else' is her 8 year old daughter, the answer is "Never", and probably should also be so for her husband.

[beezdotcom]

Yeah, when's the last time Dear Abby actually said "I don't know", instead of either shooting from the hip or passing along someone else's opinion as gospel...?

[fish hawk]

You mean that the large pointed lump on that Rhino's nose is not from telling lies??

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Dear Abby is to Dr. Laura

what

Grecian Mythology is to Christianity.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Reminds me of the song from "Your a Good Man, Charlie Brown", where Lucy is giving Linus a science "lesson". Hearing all here inaccurate claims, CB finally intervenes, only to be shouted down by Lucy.

At the end, he walks over to a tree and starts banging his head in frustration. Linus ask's Lucy why, and she responds:

"To loosen the bark, so the tree will grow faster"

If I called a zookeeper over to talk to my kid, the question my child would ask would be "do you think the animals feel safe, or are they afraid we can get over these flimsy fences and eat them?"