Mia surveys the shoreline for critters. She’s 11 years old here, in July in the summer of 2008.
I’ve brought Mia, her cousin Jasmine, and my daughters Charlotte and Sarah to Clover Point
in Victoria, BC, for a play on the beach and a kite-flying session ... breeze permitting.
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The creatures of the tidal zone are foreign and fascinating. They move strangely, and some
actually breath water. For a kid, it’s life that exists on the thin edge of mysterious and
unexplored depths.
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It’s my personal opinion that tiny crabs were put on this earth for children to hunt. The problem
is that they quite often want to keep them as pets. As adults, we recognize that their odds of
survival, for more than a few hours, are slim. The best advice I can give other Dads, in such
a situation, is to remind your kids that the little crabs have Mommies and Daddies, too. “If you
take them away from their homes,” might be the reasoning, “you’ll make them orphans.
And their parents will be very sad to lose them, just like your Mommy and Daddy would be sad
to lose you, too.” 
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At least it works at this age ... a little older, and they might not buy it.
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When it comes to one of our most important roles – teaching our children to respect nature
and life – empathy is a vital tool. And that increased sensitivity is, I think, the best hope for
our own survival.   Mark Heine