It's a good thing to teach your kids that stealing is wrong. Definitely a lesson we are not supposed to skip as parents. Let your conscience be your guide, and all that jazz. But there's stealing, and then there's accidentally taking something that doesn't belong to you. Stop rolling your eyes, it happens!
Like, say, when your kid grabs another kid's jacket without realizing it because that kid's mom got it at the same GAP sale where you got your kid's jacket, or whatever. These accidentally lifted items should of course be delivered to their rightful owners (with a polite apology).
However, what if the accidentally lifted items are ... sticks? And the rightful owner is ... Yosemite National Park?
Apparently, the same etiquette applies for sticks. And then some! If the handwritten letter a Yosemite park ranger recently received is any indication, that is:
Dear Park Rangers, I am a Yosemite Junior Ranger. I went to Yosemite recently and accidentally brought home two sticks. I know I'm not supposed to take things from the park, so I am sending them back. Please put them in nature.
Thank you, Evie.
Awww. The park ranger was so charmed by the letter that he posted it on Reddit, and now tons of other people are equally charmed. It is pretty dang cute. Although I can't help but worry that she might have a bit of an unhealthy guilt complex ... for a little kid. I mean, I hope she's not lying awake at night beating herself up over taking those sticks. They're just sticks, sweetie!! You're not gonna get in trouble!
Has your kid ever taken something by accident and felt really guilty about it?
Image via Reddit
Tie-Dye for the Fourth of July!
Mom Survives Horrific Domestic Abuse
Kim and Kanye's Baby Name Predictions!
Moms Love Birthday Parties, Too!
Comments 14
She's a Junior Ranger. One of the things they teach them is how important it is to keep people from taking things out of the park. She doesn't have a guilt complex, she just takes her job seriously!
those parents are doing a great job in raising her! my thoughts
I think this is a wonderful thing they are teaching their child. We can not allow our children to visit natural parks and national parks and remove things from nature without realizing it's wrong.
One of the oaths you take as a Jr Ranger is that you will follow park rules (one of which is not to remove anything from the park). Another is to appreciate the nature of the park and help others to enjoy it , in not so many words. She was taking her job very seriously. My daughter does a pat down of her little brother before we leave the different national parks to make sure he didn't pick up pebbles. We were going to do a leaf rubbing project one day but forgot our paper and crayons and she refused to take leaves home to do it there because it would be removing park property.
I do think what the little girl did was cute, it was right, and she takes her job quite seriously, much like my own daughter does. At least she has learned the value of living up to the oaths she has taken!!
This is too cute!! What a sweet little girl that obviously really loves nature. We need more like her!
That is so sweet!