Never in My Whole Life Growing Up.

"Never in my whole life growing up." These are the words that came from Nate's five year old mouth as he had a grand mal fit because I would not let him bring home a goldfish from daycare. One of the kind and generous (picture me gritting my teeth with forced smile as I type those adjectives) teachers had told the kids that they could have the fish as long as their parents agreed and said it was okay. Well, Nate blocked out that stipulation and was convinced that he was going to be the owner and provider for this goldfish. So, when I said no and suggested that we talk with his Dad about making such an important decision he threw himself on the ground crying that I never ever let him have a pet in his whole life growing up. Pretty tragic for all the five years of his life, huh? So, after I peeled his crying body off of he floor and dragged him out to the van sans fish we had a long talk about pets and pet responsibilities. He vowed he would practice responsibility by taking care of all the dogs he could list including Luna, Heisman, Shaker, Cider, Sparky and Cooper.

This week he came home from school on media day having checked out the book entitled "Responsible Dog Owners." Not kidding. And, now I question why I said no to a FISH? I was working on principle, of course.