Sometime between last night and this morning Jo's beloved Siamese Fighting Fish went to the big fishbowl in the sky. I discovered this as I was filling a jug with fresh water to clean his bowl.

I had no idea how to handle this one. I was hoping Walmart would carry this type of fish, but sadly they don't. I called Hubby and asked what he wanted to do and he said he would explain it to her. By the time I got home she told me that Hot Dog wanted to go and see his other friends and he was dead and she flushed him down the toilet. Not quite the reaction I thought I'd get from her!

I wonder if this story will work when one of my mom's cats passes away. Timmy is all but gone and nobody was ever able pet him except Jo. Will she believe that he missed his mommy and has gone to look for her? I might need help with this one.

Hot Dog....you will be missed(I think)

posted by Northern Mom @ 10:55 p.m.

4 Comments:

At 7:55 a.m., nancy said…

Can Jo come to our house?

You may recall that our fish (also a betta) was promptly replaced last February to help me avoid having to deal with his/her (cause we never really knew) death. Well, Sammy kicked it a couple of weeks ago. Here were the reactions in our house:

B: sobbed, cried, hugged, genuinely sad
T: "Can we get another one and name him Nemo?"
At 11:10 a.m., Anonymous said…

Did she think he was escaping like Nemo? ;)

Can't wait to see the plaster...
At 2:55 p.m., Unknown said…

Wow! She handled it amazingly well for a child her age :) I know the idea of death and dying is often a difficult concept for young kids (and anyone in general) to handle. There are children's books and stories that deal with that topic. I studied Children's Literature as part of my major in university and in a way, the death of a pet can help children cope later on with the death of a human loved one. Not to sound morbid, but sometimes these things are in an odd way, good for a kid.

Hope you're having a great start of the week :) There's another meme on my blog, if you're feeling up to it! :)
At 5:41 p.m., Christie said…

Aw poor little fishy. I'm sorry to hear about this. Maybe you can use this situation as an opportunity to discuss death with your child. It's probably easier to discuss it with something you are less attached to then have to first breech the subject with a more substantial loss, like that of a friend or relative.