Goldfish as a first pet (not the edible kind)

                                             It seems that a goldfish seems to be the most popular choice of a child's first pet.  I can raise my hand and say that I was one of these children.  I won 'BOD' at the local fair that came to town every summer.  I don't recall what I (or one of my parents) had to do to win him but he came home with us.  I don't think my mother or father anticipated him lasting so long...those cheap fair goldfish never seemed to but we had quite a few years worth
of joy out of 'BOD'.  


And yes, for those Brits reading this I did name him after
my favourite T.V. show at the time.....it was not after the
wine grape Mourvèdre or a hallucinogenic drug.....
but a simple little ummmm boy??? 

BTW I just have to include this link 
http://www.imaginarypress.co.uk/BOD%20PRINTS/bodprints.html
It's 50 years since the conception of BOD and the son of the creators has launched art work that I am soooo tempted to buy. 
Anyway, enough about BOD, back to goldfish (I think I may have to give BOD a post of his own later).

The advantages of having a goldfish as a pet are that they are..
- easy to take care of
- they don't require much attention (or petting)
- research shows that they are relaxing to watch
- they are relatively cheap to keep
- and if they die you can totally replace them and the child will never know    LOL
(that was a joke,  I don't recommend doing that but how children are introduced to and handle death is another post entirely)

As with any pet for a young child the adult responsible for the child is also primarily responsible for the pet.  I would recommend that the child be with you at feeding time and be taught how much food to give and also help with cleaning the tank.  We have a goldfish at the house where I work and I am responsible for the cleaning of it and general care taking of 'Goldie' (I wonder how many millions of goldfish have the same name). 

I teach my 6 year old how much food to give and there is always an adult supervising that she isn't given too much, the number 1 cause of death in goldfish is over feeding.  She watches me as I prepare the water and put the conditioning drops in and leave the water in a bowl for 24 hours to get to room temperature and then the next day helps me remove the old water and replace with the new.

Goldie has made it past her first year with us and I am glad to say she is doing well.

So if you are looking for a first pet for your child, as a nanny with 20 years experience of pet keeping, I can highly recommend a goldfish.