About a month ago, we decided Miles was old enough to have a pet, and got him a small fish tank, a goldfish, and two zebra danios. He named the goldfish “Emo” and the danios “Wipey” and “Dipey.” He’s enjoyed having it in his room, feeding them, gazing into its glow at bedtime.
Today, when he was supposed to be napping, he started calling us urgently: “Mommy Daddy, come see what I did!” We walk in and find the tank clouded milky pinkish white, totally opaque. He had dropped three whole canisters of Play-Dough into the tank, thinking Wipey and Dipey would enjoy playing with it. But Play-Dough slimes to sludge within seconds upon contact with water. We transferred the fish quickly to clear water, but all three were dead within half an hour, their gills probably clogged. M took it pretty well considering, but also understood his responsibility. A sad afternoon.
Speaking of emo (with a small “e”) but apropos of nothing: How To Be Emo (21 mins, QuickTime).
So sorry to hear about the demise of Miles’ pet fish. What a sad turn of events! I can totally see how Miles could have been quite well intentioned, and then very dismayed to see how things actually turned out when he put the playdough in the tank.
Maybe a Roomba or a Furby would be a more age appropriate “pet” at this point?
Thanks Dylan. Yeah, we’ve pretty much agreed that we jumped the gun on pets with him. Maybe will try again next year.
Furby, hmmm…
Nintendogs!