A five-year-old boy who loved his goldfish so much that he took it for a cuddle in bed with him has learned his lesson after accidentally killing his beloved pet, according to his mum.
Young Everett Hamlin from Bonaire, Georgia in the US was absolutely devastated last year when he killed his goldfish Nemo by taking him out of the tank for a hug in bed before he went to sleep.
His mum, Tamlin, later discovered her son lying in bed with the now deceased fish. Naturally, he was beside himself with sadness.
However, the youngster has since learned his lesson and has managed to keep the new goldfish that he was bought alive for more than a year.
As well as that, he's also been nurturing some caterpillars until they recently emerged as butterflies. It's fair to say he's not going to make the mistakes of the past again.
Speaking about the new butterflies, as well as the surviving goldfish, Tamlin said: "It was just something he was learning about in school so we ordered the kit off of Amazon and we watched them grow and learned about their life and let them go when they were ready.
"He really enjoyed it! We still have his [other] goldfish we got after the whole incident. They are thriving and doing well and he doesn't try to sleep with them."
Well, that's all good, then. As long as he's learned something from the whole upsetting incident.
His mum also said that they've been 'shocked' by the amount of attention that the original story generated when it first happened last March.
At the time, she said: "I was shocked at first, but then when he said he just wanted to pet it I was thinking, oh my god, that's so sad. I didn't think it was funny that he killed it.
"He had no understanding of what he was doing. Honestly, I'm surprised he caught it. He's got some good skills there.
"He loved the goldfish. It's always been in his bedroom. He loved looking at it. He's never tried to get it before it happened that night."
She continued: "I explained it to him again and he said, 'that's alright. We'll have to get another fish and I won't touch it. I'm only allowed to touch fish when I go fishing'. I said, 'yep, that's right'."
"Everett has to do stuff like that to learn. Not every kid listens to their parent and learns from that. Sometimes they have to make mistakes to learn from them. It's part of parenting and growing up."
The good news is, it seems as if the current crop of fish can sleep safely in their tank, knowing that young Everett isn't going to pull them out for a cuddle.
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: US News, Weird, Animals