It really is a nice idea, to let little children sit with small furries on their laps for short periods of time. Our boys were appropriately excited. Perhaps a bit surprising since they live with two cats, but the cats are young-child-phobic so the boys haven't really pet or stroked many animals!
Neither husband nor I admitted to the kids that those little pigs bit both of us, drawing blood from me... Their requests for a guinea pig as a pet was swiftly and decisively vetoed.