An answer for everything (1)
Phoebe: Dad, remember how you won't let me have a dog or a cat or a rabbit or a hamster because if we had a pet we wouldn't ever be able to go on holiday?
Me: [Warily] Yes?
Phoebe: [Excitedly] Dad, I want a goldfish! And guess what? You can buy special fish tanks that feed the fish when you go on holiday, so it wouldn't be a problem!
[Can this possibly be true? She has been spending a lot of time on the internet lately and I wouldn't be surprised if she's checked her facts on this one. I shall have to try a new tactic.]
Me: Well, that may be true, darling, but don't you think it's a bit cruel to keep a fish in a little glass tank when it would much rather be swimming through the ocean? [I have a sudden brainwave.] Like in Finding Nemo? Remember Finding Nemo? About the little fish that gets separated from his daddy and ends up in horrible fish tank?
Phoebe: Well, yes... [Ha!] But you eat fish, Dad. And if I were a little fish I would much rather live in a tank and be looked after by a little kid that loves me than be eaten.
D'oh!
I burble something about fish being born free, and how they prefer the possibility of not being caught over the certainty of captivity, but Phoebe seems even less convinced by this argument than I am. When I find myself claiming that lots of fish in the wild live to a ripe old age and die in their sleep, I realise it is probably time to change the subject...
posted by Paul @ 2:20 PM
2 Comments:
Sheesh, how did you ever get yourself trapped in there? The girl has obviously invested some serious effort and time into the matter, so there's no point in trying to convince her otherwise... LOL
We won't be facing the same problem in the future, since we've already got the cat for a couple of years now and our baby boy is growing up with a pet in the premises.
Btw, I used to have goldfish, and of course we took the fishbowl (and the basil as well) with us when we spent a week by the sea! It was pretty fun having the bowl and the flowerpot out on the balcony table!
Saigon
Luckily their aunt opposite has a dog, so if they really want to do the pet thing they can go across the road. The problem is that Phoebe is afraid of the (extremely unthreatening) beast, hence her insistence on having her own pet.
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