As a snake guy I don't particularly like having rodents as pets. but I used to work at a pet store and you have to handle dwarf hamsters (all hamsters for that matter) often or they get bad attitudes from my experiance. They are cute little critters though. And they breed easy so it is a good way to teach the facts of life in a controlled environment if you were inclined to do so.
Are hamsters good eating?In my experience from working in a pet store, yes, they do breed easily, too easily...we have had numerous situations where the breeding got out of hand and they brought us the "surplus" they couldn't pawn off on classmates, friends, family, total strangers, etc. We had one family bring us 50, yes, 50 hamsters.....they started with 2. Just a thought...if you want to ecucate your children on the facts of life, rent a dvd.....