I know what this may look like, but Barnacle is just shy!

OK so I lied! Does that really make me a bad mother?! Barnacle was DOOMED in at the very least 5 minutes if I didn’t let him go. I cannot handle that kind of guilt!  (Nor could I handle driving one handed holding a Sponge Bob sand bucket filled with Gulf of Mexico water and a baby shrimp named Barnacle all the way back home.) Never mind the fact that there were a bunch of seagulls flying above just waiting for Barnacle the baby shrimp to leave my finger tips.

So now your question may be “how do you have a pet baby shrimp named Barnacle in a Sponge Bob sand bucket full of Gulf of Mexico water if there really is no baby shrimp named Barnacle in the Sponge Bob bucket?” About that, Barnacle is shy. Listen we have been through tons of pets. To name a few, an earth worm named bologna, a tomato worm named wormy (who we turned into a moth, VERY cool science project fellow parents! Also costs next to nothing.), a crawfish named salt, and a frog named pig. All of which were very cool, very easy to deal with pets. We learned how to return our pets to the wild, safely. But this baby shrimp was different, I have no idea what got into him? (Or me!) He was just so worried about the seagulls getting cute little Barnacle, that I could not break his heart. So note to self & all you parents out there – at 4 & a half they tend to want to keep their science pets when you say “Oh what a cool pet! What’s his name?!” (As you can see this whole situation is completely MY fault.)

Sometimes lying to your child is just necessary. someone once told me “telling someone the truth may set you free, but it’s beating the crap out of someone else in the mean time.” So maybe I’ll tell him the story about Barnacle when He’s 18 or something, in hopes the truth about his pet baby shrimp won’t scar him for life.

P.S.  –A proper funeral will be arranged at the house of the porcelain gods at promptly 6 p.m. today for Baby Shrimp Barnacle. This will be called "Project setting Barnacle the baby shrimp free without any seagulls in sight!"

Signed,

Mom (The big fat liar.)

Photo by Erin Shorts - Corbyn Ford 2010 Crystal Beach, Texas