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

We are a house where spiders are taken outside, wasps and bluebottles are guided to an open window and daddy long legs can stay in their corners. I had to get rid of an ant infestation a few years ago, I didn’t like it but it had to be done.

Teach them when they’re young to respect even tiny living creatures (I will make an exception for nits!).

Sounds like an over-reaction from all quarters. Some children are terrified of bugs and they may well have acted in fear without any rational thought rather than killing for fun. You could have used this as a further learning opportunity. Personally, I don't think there was any need to involve the parent unless part of a repeated pattern of behaviour.

TBH I’d just say, ‘That wasn’t very nice, was it? The poor thing wasn’t doing any harm.’

Maybe he’s seen his parents doing the same - it’s entirely possible.
I wouldn’t take it any further.

So do you never swat a fly? Kill a wasp that's on your drink? Spray for ants or mosquitoes or moths?

I have NEVER liked bugs. My instincts have always been and still are to squash any that come my way. Basically, kill them.

No one has ever pulled me aside for it. And if they did, I would be very amused.

Not really, considering the kind of cruelty and abuse these animals experience on their way to becoming your "food". Just look up Factory Farming and maybe next time teach a lesson about that!

How do we expect our children to respect life and take care of smaller/weaker creatures when we are role modeling the very opposite?

I worked with 5 to 6 year olds and have a 6 year old myself. He knows not to step on a bug and so did they children I worked with. Even my nursery know. One of them stood on a worm, they had a good telling off and I made him say sorry to the poor worm too! They do understand at that age!

@Elber I enjoyed the way you raised the philosophical issues in this question!

Can you send him round please? I’ve got some snails I need taken care of. Cheers.

I think it is a huge leap from squashing a bug to cruelty.

They are 6 they see probably 90% of adults in their lives killing bugs. Hence they are not going to link this with being mean to an animal.

I would roll my eyes at a teacher who didn't get that at that age they understand some parts of wrong v right. Their empathy is still in development mode and will probably still be linked to linear rather than complex application.

Plenty of grown adults stand on bugs. I don't see the issue and wouldn't be impressed and consider it a non issue.

Everyone is assuming this was a teacher. OP didn't say that, they said "I work in a school". Teachers only make up about half of the workforce.

It's something that's been dealt with within school, so can probably stay there unless there are other incidents to deal with. However, as a parent I'd want to know given the ethos of the lesson and the fact a living creature had been killed for no good reason.

This is how I would want it handled as a parent. To know if there was a pattern of him seeking out bugs to kill, showing off doing it or trying to get others to do it. Parents need to know that behaviour. One off I would trust the teacher to deal with it.

This.

Oh dear, I swim against the tide here. My father was a gardener (professionally) and my role as a child was often to despatch unwanted insects eg, earwigs, snails, codling moth caterpillers but I also knew which insects were allowed in the garden. Frankly, as a school governor of over 30 years I would suggest the reaction of the teacher was a tad OTT.

So presumably if you ever get headlice you just leave them to freely roam all over your head or your children's. They're living creatures, or do you draw your own moral line about which bugs are okay to kill?

I'd wonder if you quite alright. Spiders and moths in my house meet their end. I promote biodiversity outside but kill home invaders. If you drive a car you probably kill many bugs each day. The school will almost certainly promote the killing of headline.

Yeah if i see a spider normally, i would do the whole glass and card thing and put it outside. But this one signed its death warrant.

I remember me and my brother putting some syrup in a saucer and placing it near an ants nest. Then we watched the ants get stuck in the syrup. Neither me nor my brother have turned into serial killers 😁

Well done. I wish more adults would do that.

My point is that the child may have seen the parent do it in this context and be copying. Literally had to stamp on some ants.

A bug?! Yes I'd think it was ridiculous. I kill any spider that sets 'foot' in my house! Regularly kill ants/wasps if necessary. Complete overreaction.

This thread has just made me reflect on my own hypocrisy. My nearly 4 yo knows to be kind to worms and bugs etc, we do nature walks and are farmers so she understands how important insects are. Hopefully she wouldn’t squash one, I don’t think. However we have a bluebottle fly problem (and obviously you can’t have them freely roaming in the kitchen) and we swat them. So she probably would squash a fly! So without context, maybe her teacher would think she was being raised wrongly or was a psychopath.

I killed 2 bugs yesterday. I'd think you where weird and laugh about you to friends