The Resilient Fish

This is a long overdue post. About fishes long gone. We went longkang fishing at Bottle Tree Park during the Hari Raya holiday. Yup, it's that long ago. This was E's first time and he was very focused on the task at hand - to catch as many fishes as he could. This is certainly a good way of helping him develop powers of concentration.

The downside was the crowd and the mucky pond. And the not so pleasant smell. But of course, that didn't bother him. He was elated at catching his first fish but subsequently asked for daddy's help when he kept fishing out dead fishes. New fishes are released into the pond every 45 minutes so there was a constant supply of fishes.

His love affair with the fishes lasted for a day. The novelty of having a pet? He constantly checked on his fishes and slept with the tank next to him. Unfortunately by the next morning, only one survived. E wanted to know why this particular fish survived whilst the others died. In a bid to extol the virtues of eating greens, I told him that this fish was healthy because it loved to eat fruits and veggies. To which he replied, "Fishes do not eat fruits and veggies!" I almost forgot that he was no longer a naive toddler.

He wasn't convinced at my lame attempt to indoctrinate him with healthy eating habits and proceeded to probe for a satisfactory explanation. I then told him that this fish was resilient and explained what it meant. And threw in some random lesson about how we need to learn to be resilient so we can thrive and overcome even when we face problems. How's that for trying to draw out life lessons from every day situations? He seemed satisfied with my answer. He wanted to go back and catch more fish but the more efficient way was to buy some.

We bought him guppies which eventually died (within a few days). And the resilient fish lived up to its name. It survived. The lone survivor swam on for a week or so but it too succumbed to the harsh reality of tank living. E asked for more fishes but I didn't want the hassle of taking care of a pet. I know fishes are low maintenance but any maintenance no matter how minute is still extra work. So this sums up the tale of E's first pets.