One Dumb Fish

Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 9:00 am

We have a fish. He’s one of those bubble eyed black fish and we call him The Whale.

Every time we walk up to The Whale’s tank he gets excited. There is a noticeable difference in him. If we pick up his fishy food container from behind the tank he about goes ballistic. He literally wags his fishy tail like crazy trying to jump out of the tank. This is either because he is excited about being fed or the food is so bad he’s attempting fishy suicide.
Either way, he does this because when we pick up the fish food container, without fail he gets fed. This is an absolute certainty he has come to know because we are 100% consistent in this. Our consistency has taught him exactly what to expect.

I’ve been told many times by many parents of a disobedient child, in response to solicited advice or in an effort to explain their child’s behavior, that their child is too smart to learn from consequences. They say they’ve tried being consistent with discipline but it never pays off because of their kid is just older than his years.

I must have one dumb fish then.