RIP Stubbs. He passed away today. My daughter is upset, but not nearly as distraught as I thought she might be. Hoping she continues to take it OK.
*got the pic added finally, it's on page 2
This is a stupid, random thing that is happening in my life--so it's perfect for the community board, right? My kids and I kept a couple small whiskey barrel ponds in the backyard this summer. We stocked them with tadpoles at the beginning of June, and those tadpoles turned into frogs and hopped away, all but one. When we started tearing down the ponds for the winter, there was still a tadpole left in one of the ponds. He has tiny little back legs, and what appears to be an arm-bud where one of his front legs should be.
We took him inside the house where we could keep a close eye on him and make sure he was eating--I thought maybe the other tadpoles and fish in the ponds were stealing his food and surely he would turn if he just had better access to food. Nope. It's been 3 weeks and nothing has changed, except that now my daughter is really attached to him and invested in his success and survival. I'm worried that something is wrong with the little guy and he is going to die and break my daughter's heart. So since I am off today, I was considering going to the pond supply store and buying another tadpole for her, to either replace the one that is in there or to just distract her, I'm not real clear on exactly how it would work. To be honest, it kind of depends on whether I can get another tadpole in a similar stage of development this late in the season.
In your opinion, is that bad parenting? Should I leave it go and let her be sad about her sickly pet? Or should I try to fix it for her? My daughter is 7, if that matters.
*edit* I decided not to switch him out, we are keeping Stubbs for better or for worse. I wanted to attach a pic of him but I've never posted pics on here and I don't know how.