How to raise an honest Munchkin

As adults and parents, we often find we use the little things in life to try and teach our children (or step-munchkins) how to be upstanding and productive citizens. In other words, we don't want to be responsible for raising the next Ted Bundy, OJ Simpson or some other sort of bottom feeder of society. (Of course if you ARE looking to raise a con artist of some sort, then by all means check out this book)

I like to try and teach Munchkin to have a sense of respect for other people and their belongings, no matter how small or mundane they may seem. To some, that old beat up item may actually be something that brings great joy.

Please imagine my not so gleeful surprise when I came into work today and found my once cool and unassuming "mini-kitty" which once looked like this:


Now looks like this:




As you can see, my once awesome desk prop is now 600 times it's original size. Sigh.

So I did what any person would do, and emailed the office. Here is what I had to say:
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Subj : Curiosity killed my cat?

Hello,

I see that the curiosity of someone over my “grow a pet cat” was too much for them to bear and I found my poor innocent cat drowning in a pool of water on the middle desk of the CCR portion of the office. I have to say that I’m not too happy about this. I like having little things around my desk to add to the fun and by all means if you wanted to grow your own pet, I would have gladly referred you to where you could purchase your own. Granted it might not have seemed like much to the cat-drowner, however the whole thing, package included, added to it's kitsch and I would greatly appreciate either a replacement or an apology.

Thank you to those who enjoyed looking at my little “pet” but respected that it belonged to someone and was here for the enjoyment of all.

P.S – For those who were kind enough to keep their curiosity to themselves, the cat indeed did grow to be 600% of its original size.

(You can find such an item/replacement here.)
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So the moral of our story here is teach your kids right in the beginning, and they will grow up to respect the belongings of others and refrain from the drowning of poor, innocent, fake cats.