If you're a parent would you think this was ridiculous if I pulled you aside after school for this?

Do you or his family eat meat? I find it very bizarre that we go to such lengths to lie to children about what farms are for and what happens to the animals who live on them. Our society is built upon systemic violence towards and vicious exploitation of animals, which very few people seem to think/care about at all. You find it abhorrent that a 5 year old would deliberately step on an insect but think nothing of serving h8m a ham sandwich for lunch. Crazy double standards

No, because gardening has moved on from thinking we own land and can control everything that passes through it.

I would want to know so that I could reinforce looking after all animals at home

Me too!

I don’t know about this. As an adult I have sprayed greenfly on a shrub, put down slug pellets in the borders. I have also put down ant powder and sprayed wasps. I don’t eat mammals because I think there is a difference between them and insects. There is terrible treatment at slaughter houses.

He might have seen his parents do it. If it was a fly fair enough.

I think it's an opportunity to teach not to punish. I'd think you were a bit trigger-happy with the punishments. But I was pulled aside for all sorts of nonsense when ds was 5 years old - like one day he was sniffing too much and she found it irritating - I asked what she wanted me to do - keep him off school, I was happy to? No, she just wanted me to know that she found it irritating, I suggested that maybe it was her problem then. His teacher was a bloody nightmare.

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.

Agree — it’s the killing for fun or out of interest that’s the problem. I would want to be told. Not to punish the child but to make sure that I can teach that lesson through conversation and example in the future.

What if thousands of children around the world were all squashing bugs together? Would that be a non event? 😱

I killed about 5-6 flies in my kitchen yesterday.

I would think listening to so many problems teachers are having in the classroom - if that’s the worst thing that happened in your classroom I would say that’s a good day

I have always found it very concerning when children harm animals for fun. Even at that age they understand for sure.

I dont think its worth alarming a parent over the cruelty of their 5 year old because they trod on a beetle. Its a non event. The amount of people that squash bugs! Id ask the child if thats how their parents dealt with bugs? Then id reiterate the main points of the lesson kindly

Are you for real? A 5/6 year old can clearly understand this very well unless there are other issues.

Try asking my friend who almost lost his leg after being stung by a horse fly to show empathy to them,or to parents of children who would suffer anaphlactic shock from stings. I doubt they would put the insect first before quickly getting rid of the offending creature in their midst.

I think the thing here is to really make the point that there is a difference between killing things when necessary because they are food or a pest, and killing things for fun. With the latter, yes a child should be guided that killing things for fun is not okay at all. That's a horrible trait to have.

Killing animals for food is different - however I realise that not all animals are treated as kindly as they should be and that, again, is not okay at all.

Killing pests because they might cause harm is again different - if there's a fly in your home then it might lay eggs in your food or walk all over your food/surfaces having just come from a steaming pile of dog poo. I have no mercy when it comes to flies - they laid eggs on one of my pet rats some years ago and caused a considerable amount of suffering, not just to him but to me, because I had to have him put to sleep on the same day I found the issue - so I am not going to hesitate to squash a fly if they come into our home. We have rats again, so I am protecting them.

But I would NEVER kill a creature for fun.

In the pretext of them receiving a behaviour point for purposely killing an insect during/immediately after a lesson on the environment and caring for living things, I wouldn't mind being told as a parent. I'd be disappointed in my child for behaving badly.

Last week on the train a tiny bug landed on a woman. She started flapping her arms about, jumped out of her seat, flicked it on the floor then stamped on it and ground it into the floor as hard as she possibly could. I thought it was a completely over the top and ridiculous reaction but some people are really scared or just hate bugs. Personally I can't understand it but I've seen how it develops. My mum used to chase flies round the house waving her tea towel at them to get them out the window, then hey presto my 3 year old niece started getting neurotic and crying every time a fly came in. I wonder why?!

The woman on the train might be this child's mother 😳

How shallow

Very true a lot of children (sadly!) live in big squashing homes

Ridiculous.

I think you were right to pull the child up on in (and as a pp said, it would be good to try to find out why he did it).

Telling the parent is OTT I think unless it seems part of a wider pattern of cruel or unthinking behaviour.

If I were the parent and you told me I’d be sad my child had done that but also think it’s a little out of proportion telling me, it’s a minor thing, you’ve dealt with it, no need for me to know too. But I guess it depends how much you report to parents generally - ie if you are the sort of teacher who gives lots of detail every day to parents then this wouldn’t be out of proportion.

My children are vegetarian

I have been a vegan for 35 years so I don’t eat chicken or use any by product of any living animal.

Yes- definitely.

I would want to know but I am one of the people who avoids killing/suffering of any animal anything if I possibly can. Am vegetarian, don't use leather, don't use anything in the garden that is poisonous. Rescue spiders, worms from paths, snails that might be trodden on.