I've been hearing about a new film involving owls. Some people have been getting steamed up about it because children are asking their parents for an owl as a pet and they are simply not suitable as pets. They feel the film is irresponsible.
Why are they directing their ire towards the film-makers? Children want things, it's natural. They want sweeties, they want to go out in the snow in their pyjamas, they want to poke their fingers into electric sockets to see what happens. Just because they want things is no reason why parents should agree to them. The parents' role in these situations is to teach children which of their demands are reasonable and which are not.
Children have been told stories and fairytales down the years. They entertain and teach. They make childhood a wondrous joy, but we grow up. We learn what is real and what is fantasy, what is acceptable and what is not, first from restrictions imposed by our parents and later from our own experiences. Parental restrictions should impose a morality that ensures our later experiences do not come at the expense of others.
No, as I see it, the blame for any craze of keeping owls as pets lies at the feet of the parents, not the storytellers.
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