J's nanny bought her two goldfish. This was a long time coming and I had dodged it for months. But it happened on Monday. Two fish. In a small bowl. Just waiting to die within a few weeks, maybe months if they are lucky.
I asked J what she named them and she said "Mommy and Jillian." I was touched. But apparently she told X when he was sad he was left out that it could be "Dada and Jillian" when he was at our house. (Just picking her up).
But today, a Saturday on a weekend that I don't have J, I checked in on the fish and sho 'nuff one was floating on top of the water, dead. Didn't even make it a week. She or he didn't look good the other day and I told J that she/he might be sick. Turns out she/he was sicker than I realized.
Now the question is - do I get a replacement fish tomorrow and act like nothing happened, or do I tell her about the demise of either "Mommy" or "Jillian?"
The pros of telling her the truth are (1) I don't have to find a pet store tomorrow to get another fish; (2) I REALLY do not want the fish, so I don't want to prolong this whole fish experiment, which replacing the fish would do, and (3) I don't have to lie to her - I actually don't lie to her, I mean she normally catches me in it anyway or calls my bluff....
And the cons are the following: (1) we have to deal with the concept of death; (2) she named the fish MOMMY and JILLIAN (I really wish it was like Nancy and Tony or something); (3) the trauma may require another fish which defeats one of the pros.
So what do I do? I really don't know. I have until Monday at 11:45pm to figure it out.....
4 comments:
Good luck! I will never forget my sister wailing when her hamster Patches died...but this is fish, and she didn't have too long to get attached hopefully.
Oh man, that is a doozy. I guess I would vote for telling her, because I feel like once you start down the path of hiding the fact that fish die easily, you have committed yourself to a whole lot of secret trips to Petsmart. Also, since she's going to learn about death eventually, it might be better to be introduced to the idea with a fish rather than, like, a dog or a person. :(
Wish their names were Tony and Nancy?! What did NKC and Dr. T do to you?! What did you decide?
I meant to comment earlier (what did you do?) but when Max, Frump, Wallace and Gromit died, we just matter-of-factly told the kids they were very sick and had died, and when they asked where they went, we said, "back to the ocean." Not even #1 seemed all that phased, and I don't think Q even stuck around for an answer.
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