LEARNING KINDNESS YOUNG: GIFTS FROM CHILDREN

A Small World Preschool took provisions from a food drive to the Humane Society Friday after being visited by the program coordinator, Cynthia Kothe, and learning about the society and it's functions.

Gina Herzog was one of the teachers from A Small World that took the children on the field trip.

"We took about 20 bags of dog and cat food and boxes of treats to the animals," Herzog said.

Herzog said that after Kothe had visited the pre-school all the children wanted to adopt animals from the Humane Society. In place of a mass adoption, the pre-school decided to have a food drive to do something special for the animals.

"They just piled it on in here," Herzog said. "After Cynthia visited us, many of the children said they might want to be vets or work at the Humane Society."

Kothe said that as program coordinator she does educational programs for school and preschools to teach children about interacting with animals.

"I usually do a puppet program for pre-kindergartners through 2nd grade and other additional programs for older kids depending on what their teacher asks me to talk about," Kothe said.

Some of the topics Kothe touches on are how specific breeds developed, the function of the humane society in the community, how to manage pets with regard to the season and the spaying and neutering of animals.

"I do some general education on spaying and neutering, using different language for different ages of course," Kothe said. "People are surprised I talk to the little ones about it, but they are old enough to understand the concept of `too many babies.'"

Kothe said if she could impress upon children the importance of making responsible choices with your pets, she is one step closer to having them make responsible choices as an adult.

"One example I like to use is, for every one child born there are 15 dogs and 45 cats born," Kothe said.

Children can understand that example and realize that it would be impossible to have that many animals in their house to take care of, Kothe said.

Kothe said she really enjoys the educational aspects of her job and that she thinks impressing upon the children the need for animal control is an important lesson for them to learn.