Well this weekend it finally happened, Death entered my home and took away a family member.
My neighbor upgraded to a 10 gallon aquarium last month and gave my kids the old 2 1/2 gallon starter aquarium. So we went out and let each kid pick out 1 fish each to call their own.
My daughter (5) picked out a .99 cent fish and named him Brownie. My Son (4) picked out the same type of fish, but slightly smaller and named him Nemo. These fish have thrived, they play, they enjoy life.
This weekend my wife changed the water in the tank added a fake plant to spruce up the tank. The kids watched the whole process. They encouraged their fish as they were confined to a small cup during the habitiat cleaning process. All went well, and the fish were released back to their clean digs.
Then the unfortunate happened. Nemo was floating. We thought the Boy was upstairs when my wife broke the news, but he heard the word dead and came running. Conviced the fish was sleeping he asked to give a poke at the fish. DEAD. We had to officially pronouce Nemo as dead.
It was the kids' first brush with Death. There were a few tears, but they pulled through. He decided he wants another Nemo, so we will be going to the pet store to procure another fish for him. They have requested that I not throw the dog in the trash can if she dies as I did the fish though.
So please keep Nemo in your thoughs and prayers.
Death is a tricky thing to explain to a 4 and 5 year old, no matter what the situation is.
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