How to kill a dream without hurting the dreamer?

The boys both found out somehow that pets are a cool. We've done our best to keep them from the idea, but you can only protect the innocence of the young minds up to a point; and so it appears, that we've just passed that point. They now are more determined than before; and furthermore, this time the twist came with a spin. They don't want a dog, cat, or a hamster, but worse.

Benjamin wants a millipede. (Click on the word to find out what it is.) And worse, he is really excited about it. He even has a name for it: Pertti (Bert, the best English equivalent) because he things that it's great match: Bert the millipede. (Pertti tuhatjalkainen)

Sarita and I are both quite puzzled because it's sounds like an easy pet to maintain, which destroys all our previous excuses for not having pets. Plus, I myself still need to work on couple of emotional issue before any creature like that enters our house. Apparently, I've passed the issues on Joonatan. He commented on Benjamin's dream rather blatantly: "That thing is so-o disgusting, that I will kill it on the minute I see it." Now we have settled to wait and "think about it" but the three of us are quite unison in wishes that the Benjamin comes back to dream of dogs and cats. (that we cannot take because momma is allergic... - easy)

Joonatan himself wants a turtle. Allergy doesn't work as an excuse for that either, so when heard about it, I quickly came up with a plan of making it sound difficult. Joonatan is quite responsible by character, and I played cheap and tried to use that as his weak spot. So, I told him (from the top of my head) that turtles can live as long as humans do, so you should be prepared to take care of it for the rest of your life.

Joonatan turned silent for a moment and just when I though I'd scored it, he replied: "Dad, it's no problem. When I get tired of keeping it, we can always cook it."

How about that? I did not know what to say. So we put the plan to rest along with Bert the millipede, and Sarita and I now have sometime to come up with a better strategies.