It’s difficult to explain to children why their pet died, it’s equally as difficult to explain to juvenile alter personalities why their pet died. I remember when our brown mantid died, my child alters were devastated. They were so upset they swore they never wanted any pet other than a dog or cat again. They said this as if death is exclusive to insects and fish. I told them I’d finally get that aquarium we talked about for so long but they protested, “Why, they’re just going to die. What’s the point?” They were angry and hurt and had lots of questions. We ended up going online to review the life cycle of a mantid so they could see it wasn’t anything we did wrong. There’s a life cycle and she finished hers. Information helped a bit but not completely.
After we brought home Bruce the Betta Fish things sort of settled down. Every time we passed his then small bowl they checked to make sure he was still healthy. Later when he got a full size aquarium they checked on him even more. As promised I added more fish to the aquarium. We watch the fish swim around and show their individual personalities. We watched them get bigger and more confident in their environment. The last thing I added to the aquarium was a water frog named Froggy which the little ones take delight in watching. So we went on like this with our aquarium pets, our dog and cat moving further and further from the day my little ones swore off pets.
RECENT COMMENTS