Fish

What are we talking about?

Helen: Fish for Scott.

Scott: We’ve blogged about it, haven’t we?

Helen: No.

No, we haven’t.

Scott: Okay, then I’ll blog about fish.

Helen: Because it was your idea to talk about fish and we blogged about planes.

Okay, why do you want to talk about fish?

Helen: Because Scott really wanted to talk about it and we didn’t let him talk about it. Now I’m going to let him talk about it.

Scott, why do you want to talk about fish?

Scott: Just go with the usual first question.

Okay, what is a fish?

Helen: It’s something you catch.

Scott: Helen, I wanted to answer this one. A fish is an animal that lives in the water and they have… What are they called? Scales.

Helen: And they’ve got their little fishy tails.

Scott: And they’re usually bright colours and they live in…

Helen: Tanks.

Scott: Groups.

Helen: You sometimes have them in a fish bowl.

You can eat them too.

Helen: Yes.

Scott: Yes!

Helen: Stop shouting.

Scott: Puffer fish and octopus and eels…

Helen: And seals…

Scott: Yes. Are all registered as fish.

What’s your favourite fish?

Helen: A lobster.

Scott: Eh… Eh… Eh… Eh… Eh… Eh… Eh… Eh…

What’s your favourite fish?

Scott: I’m thinking…

Helen: Somebody stop the clock, it’s slow slow time.

Scott: A plankton.

What’s the worst fish?

Helen: Eh…

Scott: A killer whale.

Helen: A shark.

Scott: Or…

Helen: A biting fish.

Scott: A tardigrade. They’re kind of fish. If they can hold their breath in space forever, they can hold their breath underwater forever.

Fish

Fish?

Scott: Yeah. Yeah.

Tell me about fish, then?

Scott: Fish are animals that live under the sea and they can’t come out – if they take a breath of air, they might die.

Helen: And fish pee in the water.

Are fish good or bad?

Helen: Good.

Scott: Good and bad. Some fish can be bad and some fish can be good.

Do we eat fish?

Scott: Yes.

What do they taste like?

Scott: Fishy.

Helen: Yucky.

Scott: They all have different tastes.

What’s your favourite kind of fish to eat?

Scott: That ones that are sweet and sugary.

Like what?

Scott: I don’t know what they’re called.

Sweets shaped like fish?

Scott: No, they’re sweet – the fish tastes sweet.

Real fish?

Scott: Yup.

When did you eat them?

Scott: They were yellow when I ate them, but they were a different colour when they didn’t have their skin on. Was it light pink? I once thought I saw… They were eating fish and one liked the eyes and one didn’t. I can’t remember what the animals were. The one that didn’t like the eyes had the one with the eyes eaten off already.

What’s the best fish in the world?

Helen: A salmon.

Scott: The world’s biggest fish. In the library today, one of my friends had a book on whales and there was one of the world’s biggest whales. It was taller than a house and wider than a car.

How long would it take you to eat that?

Scott: To eat that big one, at least five days.

Swimming

Are you a good swimmer?

Scott: Oh yeah.

Helen: I’m a good swimmer too.

Scott: Helen, Daddy was asking me.

Helen: I’m good too.

Scott: You need armbands – that means you’re not good.

Helen: Daddy, I’m good at swimming.

Who’s the best at swimming?

Both: Me!

Helen: Both of us.

Scott: Me – you need armbands, I don’t.

Are you like a fish when you swim?

Scott: Hmm. It’s not like I can stay under the water. Once I did a swimming class and I stayed under the water for the whole length of the pool.

The length or the width?

Scott: I swam all the way across. I took a big gulp of breath and stayed under water for the whole bit of the pool.

Can you remember when you first started swimming?

Scott: I guess I was about three or four then?

Mum: Twelve weeks!

Scott: What age was I?

Twelve weeks.

Scott: Twelve weeks old, that’s so…

Can you remember that?

Scott: Hardly.

What’s best – a swimming pool or the sea?

Scott: Swimming pools.

Why?

Scott: Well… because swimming in the sea isn’t always that warm. The swimming pool is usually warm. The swimming pool usually has lots of people in it so it’s usually warm.

Isn’t the sea better because you can see fish?

Scott: But you’re never able to catch them. It would have to be summer when I catch one. I remember seeing a fish in the sea and I was scared of it. I would rather have caught it and had it for dinner. We might not be able to eat the eye – we might need to pop it out.

Some people eat the fish eye, they say it’s the best bit.

Scott: What do you think?

I’ve never tried it.

Scott: If I managed to catch a fish, would you be amazed?

Yes.

Scott: Are fish very fast swimmers?

Yes – could you ever catch one?

Scott: It’s possible – underwater, where it’s even harder. What would you give me if I managed to catch one?

Depends what kind of fish – £100 for a shark and £1 for a small fish.

Scott: Maybe. Are small fish easier to catch? A shark would eat me if I tried.

I would give you more money for the shark because it’s more dangerous.

Scott: Are small fish dangerous?

No.

Scott: I’d come out of the water and shout: “I’ve got a fish! I’ve got a fish!” When can we go on holiday? Greece is it where there’s lots of fish? Can we go there tomorrow?

Maybe.

Scott earning £1 by catching a small fish. Note: no armbands.