Mommy: "Ummmm... honey let's hold off on that for a minute. Mommy has to tell you something."
Angelia: "What Mommy?"
Mommy: "Honey-- your fishies got sick and they died." (4 of the 6 fish we had died... all 4 females who were together in the aquarium).
As I spoke these words, my little girl's eyes immediately filled with tears, and "why Mommy?" came from her little voice. With tears in my eyes as well at this point (I'm serious!), I went on to tell her that like all living things, things die.... flowers are living and they die, right? ... people are living, but unfortunately they die... fishies are living things too and they die. As she shook her head as if she understood me (at her young age of 4), she asked, "What do we do with them?" I told her the truth... "we flush them down the toilet and send them out to sea." The look of fear came over her face, so I had to think quick to make this a better situation. So, I told her (I had to be a bit silly to make her laugh-- this explanation even came equipped with hand motions & everything-- you had to see it!)... "we flush them down the toilet, they go all through the pipes, and back out into the river. Once they get there, they find their Mommy & Daddy, who have been missing them very much, and then they go up to "fishie Heaven" where they get their "angel wings" and become "Angel fish" ... remember, like the "Angel fish" we saw at the Aquarium?? She recalled seeing the Angel Fish at the aquarium and in the end, she seemed very content with this plan.
So-- how did I do? I think it went OK. This was my 1st "talk" about death with my little girl and I know it was only over fish, but DAMN!-- it was tough!
In memory of our little fishie friends... Ariel, Smartie, Bubbles, and Ga-frish. We will miss sitting on the counter to talk to you and feed you. Swim in peace....
Love... Angelia, Anthony. Juliana, & Micaela
1 comment:
Awww, you did an EXCELLENT job-I've got tears in my eyes, too!!!
Goodbye fishie friends!!! :)
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