4-Year-Old Loved His Pet So Much He Decided to Cuddle It While Asleep–but It Was a Fish

A 4-year-old boy learned an important life lesson after deciding to cuddle his pet fish, Nemo, to sleep outside the comfort of its water tank.

Everett Hamlin received a big shocker when he was riled from his sleep to discover his beloved goldfish, Nemo, which had been his pet and companion almost all his life, was no more.

His confusion was evident, as hours before, he had lain lovingly beside the cold-blooded creature, cuddling it to sleep. Not until his mom explained fish needed water to survive did he realize the repercussions of his well-meaning actions.

Everett’s mom Tori Hamlin took to Facebook in 2019 to recount her son’s educative experience. She explained how she and her husband tucked their son in for the night and proceeded to the living room to see a movie.

Not long after, they heard a sound from the boy’s room. When asked, Everett confirmed the sound came from his drawer, and the parents thought nothing of it.

Minutes later, Tori walked past her son’s room and decided to check on him. To her surprise, she found his chair against his dresser, the lid of the fish tank off.

The mom also noticed the fish was gone, prompting her to call her husband. The duo searched around the room for the fish. Finally, they found it cradled affectionately between the boy’s palms, close to his adorable face as he lay fast asleep.

Sadly, Nemo did not survive the night as the parents got to him a little too late. As for Everett, he had a hard time believing he cuddled his beloved pet to death in a bid to show his love. Tori explained:

“Everett has had this fish almost his whole life!!! Now he’s upset [because] he killed it and said he just wanted to pet it. Lord help me!”

The post racked up to 26 thousand likes and was shared over nineteen thousand times, making the little one go viral. Everett’s cute gesture of love left many bewildered at his innocence, capturing the hearts of thousands. A Facebook user wrote:

“Aww, that poor baby and fish. He didn’t know. He didn’t mean to. Poor things.”

Several users admitted they made similar mistakes as kids, costing them the lives of many little pets. One netizen joked, “At least he killed his in a cute way.”

Some commenters pleaded with the parents to get the 4-year-old a replacement to alleviate his sadness. Many offered to take on the responsibility of acquiring a new fish for the boy, but his parents, Tori and Corey, declined all monetary offers.

Finally, they took the youngster to a pet shop and let him pick out his choice fish, with a promise to never touch it. Although the whole ordeal left the little boy devastated, Tori was glad he had the chance to receive such a valuable learning experience.

She divulged, “Everett has to do stuff like that to learn. Not every kid listens to their parents and learns from that. Sometimes they have to make mistakes and learn from them. It’s part of parenting and growing up.”

The youngster has since adapted to life with his new goldfish, fully equipped with the knowledge needed to raise one safely.