The advertisement was on the back of every single issue of Boy’s Life magazine, the offical publication of the Boy Scouts. I never really knew what they were, but Sea-Monkeys seemed like fascinating creatures. Of course it was obvious even to a ten-year-old that the ad was full of hyperbole. In reality, they’re brine shrimp, incredibly small creatures with a short life span. I was fascinated but never enough even to broach the subject with my parents: I knew from the quality of the ad itself and its exaggerating tone that it had to be a scam. But how cool would it have been if they were only half of what they were advertised?
Had I really thought about it, I would have realized that there is a better alternative for small pets, a much more intelligent and interesting alternative: an ant farm. When K, L, and E returned home this afternoon with an ant farm, I wondered why I’d never thought of it as a kid.
But that’s one of the many advantages of being a parent: one gets to re-live certain childhood by your daughter’s side.
I would not have thought of it either. Although the Bible expressly admonishes us to “…go to the ant…” ostensibly to learn how to be self sufficient – a lesson lost on over 40% of our citizenship today.