But Mom, Are sure Dorothy doesn't want more water?? It's fresh from the fridge

Part 2 – You know what a rotten day it was for my cutie (6 year olds have it rough), and how I bribed him with a fish to rush our way out of a store…Now to catch you up on Dorothy’s Tragic Tale…the story of the shortest pets life EVER….RIP Dorothy

When we left off Ry had just finished his fish parenting lessons…a recap of Fish Parenting 101:

Lesson 1 – We do not shake the Fish (haven’t you heard of Shaken Fish Syndrome)

Lesson 2 – Even though mom poured bottled water into Dorothy’s house before we put her in, we are NOT allowed to take icy cold bottled water from the fridge to top off Dorothy’s jar

Lesson 3 – Dorothy DOES NOT leave her home, in her fish house, on the counter

Lesson 4 – We DO NOT open Dorothy’s lid

Lesson 5 – We Do NOT Shake the Fish….I may have mentioned this one before

So, here’s what happened next…. Ry was very mad to find out that Dorothy could not be moved from one container of water to another as he pleases.  After a long debate about how Dorothy could not leave her house to swim in other places, Dorothy was moved to a spot

Ry set this up so Dorothy could come play...I said no...what a mean mom!!

no child could reach and we all went about our nightly business. I figured Dorothy needed a chance to rest after a day of getting adjusted to being Ryan’s new friend. Turns out I’m not as sneaky as I think I am, and just because something is out of a child’s reach, does not mean it’s out of their reach when they really want whatever it may be, your back is turned, and they have a chair. Dinner was finished, all the kids were playing, the hubby and I were watching TV with Mason and in came Ryan. He looked at me and said ‘Help Please’.  Me ‘What do you need help with?’, Ry –‘Help with’.  I can see this conversation isn’t going anywhere productive and I will in fact have to pry my lazy rear up to see what my little man needs help with.  We all go into the kitchen, Ry takes me to the sink, and says ‘Dorothy, Help Please’….by now I see the chair next to the counter where Dorothy was, Dorothy’s lid removed from her house, a dumped out bucket of water in the sink, and a very concerned look on my little man’s face….nothing good can come of this….so of course I handle this the way any squeamish mom would and I took Ry to the side to tell him Dorothy needed water and to  needed stay in her house, and now Dorothy has gone good-bye; and let my honey deal with Dorothy.  Turns out we were too late. Poor Dorothy…may you RIP, your little fishy life was too short. This brings me to my lessons learned:

Lesson 1 – Never underestimate a determined child

Ry REALLY thinks Dorothy wants to come play

Lesson 2 – No more pets

Lesson 3 – I need to put more thought into purchases… using a .15 cent fish to bribe the little man to leave a store peacefully and attempt to make up for his crap day…maybe not my brightest idea…I really should have seen how many ways that could/would/did go wrong

Lesson 4 – While positive reinforces are a WONDERFUL thing when it comes to parenting (and can easily be confused with bribery)…bribery is not

I have to say, while I know a pet is a big responsibility, when going over all the things that could happen, this was a scenario that never crossed my mind.I really didn’t think Ry would want Dorothy to swim in all sorts of different places….in retrospect I probably should have seen it coming….