Some Help For my Daughter

D

DadOfAKeeper

New Member
My daughter is 12 years old and has already decided she wants to be a zookeeper or have some type of career where she helps animals. She's a straight A student, is very involved in sports as well but has a real passion for animals. I would live to be able to help her in any way possible achieve this dream. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how she can do things as a young teen to help herself get ready for her career. This is not something I am pushing her towards but something she wants to do. She is too young to volunteer at the zoo and humane society so we are trying to think outside the box. We considered starting a website for kids about zoos but I'm not much of a computer guy. She'd love to help out with any website if anyone currently has one and needs help. Or if anyone has any ideas she would appreciate it and is dying to unleash her real passion. We live this sure by the way!
 
Get her a pet - start with something small (lizard, fish, hamster, etc.). Have her do the research first. Knowing what goes into keeping an animal alive is important in building a foundation for a future with animal husbandry. Also learning how to interact with animals is important as well.

Birdwatching - keen observation skills are important when working with animals. Taking up birdwatching as a hobby will help her develop these skills. Not only by identifying the bird species themselves, but also understanding the behaviors the birds exhibit.

Chores - have her do the dirtiest and hardest chores around the house. Have her learn to use tools and equipment as well. Working with animals is not glamorous and often involves a lot of heavy lifting and dirty work. Having her exposed to these types of jobs will make it easier for her to decide if working as a zookeeper is for her. And its always helpful to have a background working with tools.
 
DadOfAKeeper said:
My daughter is 12 years old and has already decided she wants to be a zookeeper or have some type of career where she helps animals. She's a straight A student, is very involved in sports as well but has a real passion for animals. I would live to be able to help her in any way possible achieve this dream. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how she can do things as a young teen to help herself get ready for her career. This is not something I am pushing her towards but something she wants to do. She is too young to volunteer at the zoo and humane society so we are trying to think outside the box. We considered starting a website for kids about zoos but I'm not much of a computer guy. She'd love to help out with any website if anyone currently has one and needs help. Or if anyone has any ideas she would appreciate it and is dying to unleash her real passion. We live this sure by the way!
Click to expand...

You might contact your local zoo and see if they have any kind of teen volunteer program for their education department. I was dying to do volunteer work at my local zoo before I was old enough to be a keeper volunteer and spent several summers as a teen volunteer helping with summer classes. Do you have a local science center or wildlife rehab center? They often have live animals for education shows and have volunteer programs for teens that may have some animal care opportunities.
 
I have spoken with the local zoo but volunteers have to be 16. I know they don't want young kids running around a zoo freely but sucks because she is incredibly mature for her age and would give anything to be involved. She'd love to do some research if anyone has a website they need help with.
 
First of all, you´re amazing for doing this - supporting your daughter in following her dream, great, great, great! (I wish my parents were that supportive when I was a kid, where could I be now ;) )

I agree with what was mentioned above. And if she´s such a great student, she probably already reads zoo and animal-related literature, watching documentaries etc., right?

There are also online animal-related courses. (they are classified as "adult education", but I didn´t actually find any age restriction, you would have to call there and ask). These can be great help, she would have to read relevant literature, do assignments and she would get the basic knowledge required for this job. Just keep in mind, that these courses don´t entitle you to work in a zoo! It´s something to broaden your knowledge and give you some start, but they won´t replace the need for a real degree.

ACS has many of them, for example:
Vertebrate Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Animal Health Care, Ornithology, Zoo Keeping, ...
more at
Distance Education, Correspondence and Home Study Courses in Horticulture,Farming,Environment

(there are probably more schools like that, I´m giving this example because of my personal experience with them.)

Hope this helps. Continue to be supportive, and give your daughter my best! ;)
 
Well, since she's 12 her career path is a bit of a wide open field at this point.
IMO, working on a website is the easy hands-off approach.
So why not go for the challenging hands-on approach. See if she can assist at a local animal shelter...or help out someone who is fostering abandoned animals...or on a farm. Let's get this girl knee deep in helping animals and see if that is what she wants! You don't become a great keeper by sitting at a computer. And nothing she studies today is going to speed her along to a keeper's job (it's too soon to matter), so see if she likes the smells and dirt and joy and heart-break of really helping real animals.
Then you'll both be in a better position to know what she can do next on her journey.
 
Well said, Zooplantman!
 
Thank you so much for the ideas! She is beyond the get a pet part. I agree she needs to "get her hands dirty" and experience it more. I think the more she learns now the more prepared she will be and the more she will want to do this. If she decides she wants to do something else, then I will obviously support her either way. If she finds out now or years from now it is not what she wants to do, then it is better she finds out early than when she is halfway through college or her first year as an intern.

These ideas are great and I really appreciate them all. I don't have ANY zoo experience so I am doing my best to help her out. The website idea was hers since she is too young to volunteer at zoos. We have talked about making her own site but really don't know what it would entail. Maybe a blog about different animals? Keep the ideas coming!
 
DadOfAKeeper said:
The website idea was hers since she is too young to volunteer at zoos. We have talked about making her own site but really don't know what it would entail. Maybe a blog about different animals? Keep the ideas coming!
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Since zookeppers do something very different from running websites, maybe the first thing she needs to do is learn how a zookeeper really spends her day!
There are several people here who could describe that to her!
Or...
http://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=960
http://careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/554/Zookeeper.html
http://azoolife.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/being-a-zookeeper/


If she wants to share information about animals (as compared to preparing their diets, cleaning their poop, etc.) then perhaps she could see how a zoo educator spends her day.

Either way, getting dirty with animal care is a great way to start. Caring for animals is very rewarding, but perhaps less romantic than even the most mature 12 year old can imagine (do you want to deflate her romantic dreams just yet, Dad?)
 
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I´m not really sure about the website/animal blog either... I mean, there are so many websites already and she would ended up putting together information that are already easily accessible on so many websites.. Not to mention internet trolls and haters, which could easily destroy her efforts by pointing out her mistakes, accusing her of not citing her sources etc... Reading, researching information for herself, taking notes? Sure. Putting it on the internet for everyone to see? I don´t know, don´t see the point.

I agree with the "get her hands dirty" part, but knowledge is important as well, e.g. you have to know how to take care of monkeys, but you should know their natural history as well. Her dreams can change, of course. But maybe they will only change a little bit - she might not become a zoo-keeper, but if she loves animals, she might want to try other animal and wildlife related profession. And that´s when the knowledge comes in handy.

So, for now, maybe a little bit of everything, and the time will show.
 
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