My wife and I have two wonderful children. Our daughter is almost 5, and is the size of and developmental age of a 7 yr old! I'm 6'2" and we're sure we will be as well. Our son just turned 3 and is all boy! He loves destroying things, wrestling and punching me (he's not allowed to hit anyone else, just me) and playing with dinosaurs. They are amazing children and we both love them dearly.

Our daughter loves to take care of stuffed animals and her pet horses. We play animal hospital where the sick pets are treated for various ailments and are released once they are feeling better. She loves animals and really wants for us to get a dog of our own and sometimes tries to show she is old enough to help take care of a puppy by showing us how well she takes care of her stuffed animals.

She surprised me the other day while talking about how we would split up the jobs taking care of a puppy when she volunteered to clean up all the puppy poop in the backyard! I told her she didn't have to do it all herself and that if I took the puppy out I would clean up but she insisted she would do it so that it was less work for me!

She has many, many stuffed animals and we just got some new small ones for her including two cute little teddy bear hamsters. She decided to take one with her and leave one with me to keep me company as my wife and the two kids took the train to go see Grandma and Grandpa and I would follow a couple days later by car so that we could drive back home together.

Before she left, she and I sat down (at her request) to write a list of things I needed to do to take care of the hamster while she was away; what follows is that list. Each major point of the list was dictated by her and I have elaborated on each point slightly. Enjoy.

1- Feed the hamster up to '35' two times a day. Once in the morning and once at lunch. Put the food in the food tray.
She found a small plastic rectangular tray of some kind with some numbers on it... looks like it belongs in a game of some sort. You know, the game nobody plays because parts are missing? Anyway, she determined that you want to feed the hamster '35' two time a day, with the second feeding at lunch. You don't want to feed him later than that or he will get an upset stomach she said.

2- Make sure the water is filled up to '40'.
Hamsters need water to live, so she made sure we had plenty of water available for the hamster. Unfortunately we didn't have a dedicated water dish, so the '40' water was measured on the food tray. I hope he likes soup! =)

3- Clean the cage once a week and replace the bedding.
I had to explain to here that the cute little hamsters poop in their house and need to have us clean it for them but she understood.

4- Brush him 2 times a day with a small comb.
Hamsters like to be clean and neat, so you can do your part by gently brushing your hamster with a small brush or comb if he will let you.

5- Take the hamster outside to play in the leaves for exercise.
We have a nice backyard where we sometimes play and she thought the hamster would enjoy getting out in the grass and getting a little nature in his day. I think she would absolutely love playing with a hamster in the grass... I wonder, would he stay or run away you think?

6- For a treat, give him the little green seeds from the tree in the front yard. If he doesn't like the green seeds give him leaves from the trees in the backyard and pick off the bugs. If there are ants, pick different leaves.
Everybody likes a treat, and she felt the hamster would like to sample the seeds she sometimes pulls off an evergreen tree in front of our house. If not he would surely enjoy the leaves (that are about 15 feet off the ground) from the trees in the backyard. How I'm supposed to get the leaves, we're not quite sure.

7- Give the hamster an exercise wheel and a clear ball to roll around in inside the house.
Who wouldn't love to have one of those big hamster balls to roll around in? I know I would roll around in one in my yard if I had one! Looks like a blast!

8- You can hold and gently pet the hamster 3 times per day.
So there's not as much interaction with a hamster as there is with other pets, and you don't want to scare or hurt the hamster by handling it too roughly or too often.

9- To talk to the hamster, make small, quiet squeaky sounds. Don't be loud or you will scare him.
Of course the hamster would like to have somebody to talk to, don't we all? "How do they talk?" she asked me... Well, I'm not really sure but I think I saw once that quiet little squeaks are how they talk to each other.

10- You should have two hamsters so that they don't get lonely.
Uh oh... here's where the "And that's how I started my hamster farm business" story starts! I told her she should make sure that she has two boys or two girls so they don't make lots and lots of baby hamsters and she seemed alright with that. I believe you should have all females like our friend shown here, Dr. Wu says to avoid unauthorized reproduction. Problem is it's hard to view a hamsters privates (and you should really ASK the hamster first before just grabbing and looking!!) and you might end up with a boy and a girl.. and then lots more after that.

She posted the list we wrote out together on the fridge so that I could look at it every day while they were gone, and check off each task to make sure the hamster was well cared for. I'm sure that as soon as I see her she will ask how Fuzzball is and if I took good care of him. Thanks to her, I know exactly what to do, and will make sure he is one happy little hamster for her.

After all, isn't that what life's all about? What better thing in the world is there than making your child smile with delight?

I hope this has been an enjoyable and educational journey into hamster ownership for you. If you have any other topics about which you would like to hear the opinions of a 4yr old, please let me know and I will pass the requests on to her!