If you say “Sea Monkeys” most people will have some memory of the excitement they had over the prospect of a whole kingdom of these royal Sea Monkeys. Complete with crowns and the promise of being instant pets captured many a child. Imagine your own little kingdom of magical Sea Monkeys! They were advertised as “eager to please” and “easy to train” I was so excited to think of the tricks I would teach my little Sea Monkeys and the ways they would try to please me. I remember the first time we tried we must have done something wrong because nothing happened.
A few years later, I decided to try again, armed with this huge glass vessel I prepared everything according to the package directions. A few days later I saw the tiny little creatures moving around if I squinted really hard next to the glass. It worked!!! I was going to have my own kingdom! A few days later, after school, I rushed to my room to see if they had grown while I was away. The glass vessel was gone! I ran to find my mother and asked her if she knew what happened to it. Finding her I asked her if she put it somewhere. She seemed baffled as to why I would have a large container of plain water on my dresser. I had not told her I was growing a kingdom of Sea Monkeys, it was my secret. When she told me she emptied it for fear it would fall on the floor, I gasped. After I explained to her they were my Sea Monkeys and they were alive, she felt so terrible. She did not know that she poured an entire kingdom of Sea Monkeys down the bathroom drain. She apologized profusely and really was so remorseful that she had somehow caused the death of an entire kingdom. She saw nothing in the water, she did not realize I was growing a kingdom.
After the second disappointment with Sea Monkeys I never ventured into that realm again but decided to stick with pets that were very visible. Many years later I read that I am not the only child to be disappointed with these creatures. In fact they were sold and marketed in such a way that one could only be disappointed because these “brine shrimp” were never going to look like the magical, mystical creatures on the package. So it seems in one way or another these Sea Monkeys were just destined to let kids down.
You would think that once word got out, their sales would die and the company would go under. That is not the case since their introduction in the late 50’s these Sea Monkeys are still around today, there to entice a new generation of children with dreams of grandeur. Parents who suffered the disappointment even buy these for their kids and I think in a way they are hoping that something really magical will happen this time. However, when our own children are disappointed with the results, we wonder, what we were thinking. Yet, these Sea Monkeys keep being sold and keep disappointing generation after generation. Talk about a product that stands the test of time!
What we were promised and enticed with:
The reality if they made it this far. Every little girls dream!
