How Do You Break It To Your 4 Year Old You Have Killed Their Gold Fish

[honeydip]

Something bad happened earlier I was cleaning out Goldy's little bowl. When I was trying to put him into the same temperature water he slipped out of my hand and straight down the basin waste. I quickly unscrewed the bend and thank god he was there. I put him in the bowl but he wasn't moving. Anyway to cut a long story short I ended up wedging him in the little house and we have told Jeffery that he is just asleep. It was around 2 hours ago and Goldy still hasnt moved. He must be dead but we will wait till morning I suppose to make sure. I don't even know the French word for aquarium and I certainly havent seen one out here. We won him from a circus around 5 months ago. If he is still there in the morning should I get rid of Goldy and tell Jeffery he escaped?

[shoota]

Are you in France?
LeClerc's hardware stores often have pet sections that do fish.

[grasscarp]

I would not say he has escaped as he will spend a lot of time looking for him. Tell him the truth that he has died. Explain he wasn't well. Also say you will get him another fish.

[Mick-Talbot]

Must have been a very small fish.

[honeydip]

shoota really there is a LeClerk around 10 minutes away but we have never been in! They really sell fish? OK well in that case I can go look in the morning thanks

[Mosaic]

How can you live near a Leclerc and not go in! I take that as a personal affront! So I can use exclamation marks!!

[honeydip]

We usually go to Hyper U to be honest.

[weecalf]

Kid probabally realises and is enjoying you trying to hide it. Four year olds know a lot more these days

[MadMen]

Oh no, HD! Poor Goldy!

Tell Jeffrey the truth. Kids need to learn about death.

[Prudie]

Agree at 4 he should accept better than if a bit older. Just tell him the truth. If you'd posted this in CB I'd have suggested saying 'Goldy sleeps with the fishes'

[honeydip]

Yes but then we will have to tell Monty our 3 year old the same. Maybe that is too young still?

[sherrardk]

You can't lie about it, better that the first death they hear about is a goldfish, rather than a person.

[Mick-Talbot]

Replace the fish with a piece of carrot, swap it every other day with a bigger piece .................see if Jeffery notices.

[Tilly2]

Have you really called one of your children Jeffery? I thought you were a hippy sort of person.

[honeydip]

We are not religious and it would be nice to be really truthful and properly say good bye. However we are still in a hotel so we cant exactly bury him we would have to hold hands around the toilet while we flush him down. It doesn't sound right though.
Should we get rid of the fish first then tell the kids?

[magsmay]

children often take death better than adults -when our rescue cat had two malformed but alive kittens we knew we would have to have them put down -my son then 5 took a great interest in their death (sounds bizarre but true) he took great care in organizing a funeral and the kittens were placed in a box side by side with a toy. Tell him the truth then bury the fish (don't flush it that may give the wrong impression) ;-)

[MadMen]

Haha!

And.... if he doesn't, then you'll know little Jeffrey is due an eye test. :)))

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

Tell them,promise a new one then show them Finding Nemo.

[magsmay]

sorry honeydip crossed posts -take the fish to the park perhaps? or give it a burial in a local lake?

[SMP]

When my grandson's fish died we removed the fish before he noticed and told him Fred had gone on holiday. A couple of days later we bought a new fish and said Fred had come back. We have done this twice now and he has never noticed the difference. My grandson is 4

[Mick-Talbot]

sorry honeydip crossed posts -take the fish to the park perhaps?


Yes do that, Jeffery on one side of the see-saw and Goldy on the other.
What a beautiful moment that will be.