so you would think that my ds was going to graduate to pulling the arms off babies next!

[deanychip]

Called into school by teacher because she is very very concerned about ds and 2 other boys squashing snails at play time. (her words)

They have just done about mini beasts and she is concerned that if she doesnt do some thing about this now...."it could lead to more serious things"

Parents of the 2 other boys were mortified and obviously annoyed with their boys.

they are 5 my ds is 4.

am tempted to dismiss this because i do not believe that he will become a mass murderer if not checked and i dont really see the gain from punishing him at home for some thing he has done at school and ..heres the thing, is this kinda normal grubby boy behaviour???

[Bramshott]

Send him round to my garden, I am always out there squashing the snails who are munching my plants

[deanychip]

thankyou Bramshott, he is not going to be on the front of every newspaper by the time he is 6 is he!?

[missblythe]

'lead to more serious things'

The woman is insane, and probably also pissed off that this has been the longest school term since records began.

[deaconblue]

bonkers teacher. Although I do believe that guy who ate his victims was into snail squashing

[deaconblue]

btw I am a relatively well adjusted teacher who clearly remembers spending one summer pulling the legs off daddy long legs

[deanychip]

okokok so im kinda getting the vibes from you all that this is not to be too concerning.
Thank goodness,
you know when you doubt yourself and because the other parents were SO mortified i thought "is this me bieng too soft in the head???"

no am not.

[Marina]

I'm with the parents of the other two boys tbh
Yes of course the teacher has wildly overreacted, but I've always encouraged the dcs not to be randomly cruel to living creatures, and to respect the environment, and I think that's something they can start to learn at four.

[deanychip]

marina me too!
we are very outdoorsy as a family , i am a nurse, very caring by nature and we are very peaceful people.
this is not something that he has seen at home or otherwise!
Didnt want to get itno the whole cruelty to animals type debate, but at the same time i am not going to gloss over this.
i think that he will learn about his concience through this.
i tried to tell him about if i stamped on his foot really hard, how would it feel.

[juuule]

Totally agree, Marina.

While I don't believe that it's likely to "lead to more serious things" particularly, I do think that you should speak to him about not being cruel to living things. Don't just be dismissive of it with "kinda normal grubby boy behaviour". You don't need to punish him but if it was one of my children, I would definitely be having a little talk.

[PrettyCandles]

I think she's over-reacting. Yes, the boys need to learn that acts of cruelty to animals (even vermin ) are unacceptable, but I really don't think it's going to lead them into mass murder.

My 5yo dd also went through a phase of stamping on ants and snails. She seems fine to me.

As for punishing him at home NO. If it's been dealt with at school then that should be an end to it. I absolutely firmly believe that. By all means discuss snail-squashing, but please don't punish him.

[deanychip]

juule, did do. we had a chat about it when we got home.
says he doesnt know why he did it.
am stumped tbh.

[PrettyCandles]

BTW I'm too squeamish to squash snails myself. So whenever we come across a slug or a snail we drop it into a bucket of water in the far corner. We call it the Slug Cemetary.

So am I a vicious mass-murderer? Or a conscientious gardener? And what am I teaching my children?

[deanychip]

its so gross isnt it, squishing snails...yeuch.

[deanychip]

serves her right...ive just eaten her toblerone that i got her to say ta at the end of term.


gonna get her another...obviously.