Gold Fish and Red Jelly Beans

Science was NEVER my strong point in school. In fact, I dropped Biology 110 twice in college before painfully taking Chemistry 101 (the summer after my last semester) to fullfill my Science requirement. Science was always the subject I chose to "skip" when time ran out during my 7 years of teaching 4th and 5th grades. So, having an almost 5 year old boy who LOVES to figure things out has been quite eye-opening for me. Since Spring, Jed pretty much lives outside. He disects bugs, studies different flowers (weeds!), and likes to figure out how things work.

Easter afternoon, the family--my in-laws were in town--was enjoying the beautiful afternoon out on the back deck. The kids had finished their hunt for eggs and were enjoying the jelly beans hidden inside. Jed was in and out of the house doing this and that. As I stepped into the kitchen to grab my water, my eye caught the fish bowl sitting on top of the microwave. Interestingly, the water was bright red. I immediately called for Jed and demanded that he give me an explanation for why the fish's water was red. He explained that he just wanted to know if the fish liked jelly beans as much as he did. Instead of laughing (which is probably what I should have done) I overreacted (which I tend to do a lot) and told him to say goodbye to his fish because he just killed him. Jed said, "ok, bye fish" and was not too sad. After calming down, and my husband and in-laws thinking that was funny, I began to feel guilty, went back in the kitchen and proceeded to "save" the fish. I changed the water quickly, and said a quick little prayer that the fish might live. Yes, the fish is still alive today, I think it might have enjoyed its sugar-rush from the red jelly bean. After all, red is my favorite jelly bean, why would a fish not like it? So, if you ever need a Science Experiement--I recommend Gold Fish and Red Jelly Beans.