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

I have to be honest if a teacher took me aside and told me about this I would feel like she was bending over backwards to find fault.

If she had ALSO already given the child a behaviour point I’d feel she was picking on them needlessly and making a right picnic of it. Absolutely fine however to remind DC how useful bugs are, to prompt DC to wonder it had feelings or felt afraid, to remind dc of the class lesson and discuss other options the child had ( like not stepping on it!).

One of my own grandchildren, at that time nearly 4, stepped on a ladybird - on purpose. We corrected them, they started to cry because they didn't expect to be reprimanded by grandparents. We still talked to them explaining the ladybird hadn't done anything to deserve being killed, was just being a ladybird. Was a bit of an emotional exchange, but we all survived. It didn't happen again.

Are you actually serious?! I would be complaining about you to the school.

When my son 12, was at primary another boy stood and killed a slug. My son got the blame when he was trying to save it. It had been a bet with another two boys, one was to kill it. Well my son got pulled out the class and got a bollocking!!
He was so upset. Well I went through the roof. I’m usually quite laid back but I really went to town with this. The teacher had picked on my son a few times up till then. I still to this day don’t understand why this women is still teaching, as she gets complaints all the time.

Yeah because that's exactly the same 🙄why do some posters have such trouble distinguishing between something done out of necessity to protect humans/animals/the home and something done purely for fun/to be cruel needlessly? And you do realise we're adults right and have a responsibility to keep our pets and homes clean? And the OP is talking about a child?

I put down traps for mice because you're actually not supposed to move them to another area (it's cruel apparently) and there's not much else you can do. I don't use poison because I think that's needlessly cruel and a snap trap is pretty much an instant death 99% of the time. As a kid I didn't agree with killing them though, it's only as an adult do I understand it's basically the only option. I don't enjoy doing it, or do it to assert my power over something smaller than me.

I had a wasps nest right outside my bedroom a couple years ago-I could hear them buzzing, they were high up enough not to bother anyone going in and out from outside and I knew they died out in the Winter anyway so I left them. I'm glad I did. If they were causing a nuisance or we had workmen they would've had to be removed obviously, but in this case there was no need to kill them. It was a judgement call, are they doing any harm or can I just let them be?

I don't stamp on harmless bugs in the garden just for the hell of it.

Kid was being a little shit

if the lesson was about kindness to nature, yes a behaviour point and possible a mention to parent. I would want to be told, it may seem minor to some but I think important to educate with animals and insects. If was during playtime it’s still unkind, but on an educational lesson theme it feels it’s behaviour too.

DS1 was 3/4 and as I picked him up from nursery we saw a worm. I have a real phobia of creatures without legs but still did the education bit- we looked at the worm, talked about it etc. Then DS1 stamped on it. So obviously we had to talk about why that was wrong. And he learned and never did anything like it again.

So personally I think once one adult has talked it through with the child, that is enough. As a (former) teacher I wouldn't report to parents after dealing with the incident with the child. As a parent I would expect the teacher to deal with it and then move on.

So everyone who says it's cruel, would i be correct in assuming that you also think its wrong to de-worm / de-flea pets, put down traps for rats / mice, have never destroyed a spiders web when cleaning or used bug sprays?

Little sh*t.

That would be an OTT response for parent to ask for child to be moved to another class.

I agree about the spider. What was wrong with putting it out the window?

Was the child afraid of the bug? Did child offer any explanation? He may have witnessed adults at home killing insects. If this is a pattern of behaviour I would mention it, but as a one off maybe not. He has been told off for it. Do you have a pastoral notes folder? Might be worth recording in that.

Do all insects have your sympathy? Anopheles mosquitoes, for example?

I'd think the school a bit weird, though I am a bit iffy about treading on harmless bugs. Point is, we destroy lots of insects. I spray greenfly with detergent, and do not tolerate ants nests near my house; I also swat flies. Two years ago we had an invasion of wasps in the house and had to destroy them - there was nothing else to do unless we wanted to be stung. So it's also a bit iffy teaching childen not to kill any insects when some insects do us harm. We control the environment as well as respect it.
Re: spiders, I never kill them and I a) am scared of them and b) don't much like them. I don't kill an insect not threatening me, so wasps are safe if they stay away (and one must never brush them away or flap at them because this causes them to keep coming close to you) and I would never kill a bee. Anopheles mosquitoes - well, yes. Malaria kills people.

If you were the teacher and you pulled me aside to tell me my child did this I would seriously consider asking to have my child in another classroom.

I’d want to be told so we could have a chat about it at home.

Yes I would want to be told so I could reiterate and teach my child that this is wrong.

Do people not regularly kill spiders, roaches, ants, fleas, flies? If his mother is anything like me, whenever she sees a spider she screams and asks her husband to kill it or get rid of it. Maybe he was copying his mother.

Well it depends...does the child insist on killing insects, look for them with that in mind etc?

i wouldn’t think much of a child squishing an insect because he/she can at 5/6 years old...but why did that bug you? There is evidently something else at play here.

that particular child defo went against what you taught... did, maybe, that for that particular reason to disobey more than to hurt the insect? How is your relationship with said kid?

anyhow, if the parent dismiss it...I would also stop thinking about it but it still bugs you. Why?

So what was the parents response? You say you mentioned it as you ‘wouldn't actually report home about this unless we noticed a regular pattern’.

I am a primary school teacher and have been for many years. Also a special needs lead so have done a fair bit of cpd on child development and atypical development. The thing is, this behaviour in a 5 year old is typical behaviour because they want to push boundaries of what they have been told to see what happens and or they just don't have the empathy and reasoning levels to understand why they shouldn't do it. Grown adults who live typical and non violent lives do it every single day. Many kids do alot worse on purpose and do not grow up to be psycho serial killers. So essentially I don't think it is a red flag that the parent should be worried about but of course as a teacher you are trying to teach them the value of caring for environment so it makes sense that there would be a consequence for this behaviour to enforce the lesson you just taught. Although some could argue that the punitive method is shaming and won't achieve anything but that is another thread. Another thing to note is that one lesson in itself won't change a child's behaviour it will take many more lessons about caring for animals to embed it into a child's value system so maybe it was a little harsh and a reminder conversation with him would have had more impact.

This is mental. It was a small child, and a insect. It's not bad behaviour. Its children being children.

I had my partner squash a spider with a flip flop last night. I'm a vegetarian. I guess I'm going to hell now.

Not even dustmites, fleas or ants?!

I have a big phobia of bugs, flies, spiders etc. Like freeze and panic at the sight of them. I work with children and have two of my own so have worked hard to correct this for the benefit of them. Never have I ever killed one because of my fear. If there’s a spider in my house for example, I just get someone (or myself if there’s only me) to catch it and let it outside. If there’s some at work, it is a great teaching tool to show the children how we can remove them safely. The children I work with love catching them safely, having a look at them and then decided where is best to set them free. I can’t imagine killing them or allowing anyone in my care to do that.