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

I work in a school.

A 5/6 year old today trod on a small bug. He did this on purpose.

I'd like to say it was because he didn't know better but this was half an hour after a lesson on looking after the environment and things we could do to care for nature. Lots was mentioned about animals, etc.

I pulled the child up and spoke to him about his behaviour. He essentially received the equivalent of a bad behaviour point as a result.

If you were pulled aside after school as a parent and told about this incident would you think it was ridiculous?

I know people have different views, some would draw the line at hurting an animal the size of a cat, for example, but wouldn't bat an eyelash at killing a spider.

On that note actually, we had a girl (x) in our class who was quite nasty and badly behaved. Her parents had split about when she started school which wasn’t very common in our group at that time and she was hurting, and acting out. The teacher was always , always on at her - so much so I used to feel a kind of internal wince each time x got told off.

One day our teacher had to go into hospital for a few weeks and the headmistress had to take over the class . She walked in and more or less as a first comment said: “ Right: I’m going to need someone responsible and kind to walk my dog at break each day.” Everyone did that thing where you put your hand up and sort of wriggle and groan to be picked. Then the Head said :” x, I think you will do a good job.” We were all looking at each other as if to say “well, this is awkward,” but of course none of us dared say anything to the Head about her being uninformed. That kind of treatment of x continued over the weeks the teacher was away and x was honestly a changed child. I still know x and she is a lovely person - and I still think of that Head to this day.

I know the comments on this thread about discipline and behaviour points for being unkind to a bug are well meant and aimed at raising an evolved generation, but I genuinely think punishment can only go so far. Correction can teach a lot of things but I don’t think it is an ideal tool for teaching kindness.

That’s why you target the behaviour and not the child. E.g. “it’s unkind to squash ladybirds because they’re much smaller than you and not doing you any harm”, and not “you’re a horrible child”.

I’m surprised by the number of posters on this thread who go around killing every insect they see and don’t (or can’t) differentiate between harmful bugs such as fleas and bedbugs, creatures which are beneficial to humans such as bees and earthworms, and other bugs which may not benefit humans directly but which are harmless to us and play an important role in the ecosystem.

Some PP.s have tried to suggest that squashing all bugs on sight is normal in our society and culture. But I don’t think it is. If you hate or fear all minibeasts to this extent, I think you might benefit from counselling to unpick why that is.

I’m surprised by the number of posters on this thread who go around killing every insect they see and don’t (or can’t) differentiate between harmful bugs such as fleas and bedbugs, creatures which are beneficial to humans such as bees and earthworms, and other bugs which may not benefit humans directly but which are harmless to us and play an important role in the ecosystem.

Some PP.s have tried to suggest that squashing all bugs on sight is normal in our society and culture. But I don’t think it is. If you hate or fear all minibeasts to this extent, I think you might benefit from counselling to unpick why that is.

Moreover, children don’t actually flourish in terms of personality development when made to feel ashamed for who they are. That’s why some children who get off on the wrong foot seem to get worse and worse: they are forever met with correctional disapproval. I wouldn’t personally have risked that sort of “you are horrible” shaming over a bug.

Moreover, children don’t actually flourish in terms of personality development when made to feel ashamed for who they are. That’s why some children who get off on the wrong foot seem to get worse and worse: they are forever met with correctional disapproval. I wouldn’t personally have risked that sort of “you are horrible” shaming over a bug.

I was responding to comments to the effect that the teacher is a psychopath.

The child is completely normal and squashing a bug with the foot is a normal reaction to bugs in this society and culture, which the child has clearly learned from observation, probably in his own home.

It's expecting a lot of children of 5/6 to understand the nuance involved in "one bug squashed by you = not ok" / "a gazillion mosquitos killed by other means = a statistic".

It's confusing for a child to hear such an unequivocal message from a teacher about something done frequently in summer by his parents, whom he loves, who are probably kind and loving, and millions of other adults, clearly without much impact on the overall insect population, and clearly without much of a thought.

Out there in the real world, people kill insects. They don't want them in their homes. They don't want them eating their roses or their lettuces or stinging or biting them. It's not ideal, but for a teacher to present the killing of an insect as a moral failing to a child that age, probably in direct contradiction of what the child has seen at home, is getting beyond the remit of the teacher and well into overweening territory.

It's also failing to meet the child where he is and pitching the message in a way that gets him behind it enthusiastically; shaming him is nothing short of an ego trip at his expense, and also detrimental to the message.

I'm not saying he could be a psychopath/sociopath but it needs monitoring to make sure he doesn't turn into one before there's literally nothing you can do to change it. He could just be a normal boy-it's 90% boys that do this, which explains a lot about future male behaviour doesn't it?! Me and my friends never did anything like that, wouldn't cross our minds. But I'm sure actual psychopaths started out with bugs before they moved onto animals and then potentially humans, it's an escalation. This boy had just had a lesson on respecting nature, and honestly if they don't have the capacity to understand harming bugs purely for fun, I see no reason why their tiny brains will comprehend the lives of animals either.

Not all kids.

Some of them play with their poop. Some of them call their nearest and dearest poo poo heads when annoyed. Some of them tell their friends and classmates stories along the lines of "Mummy wemt to Florida and left us all alone" with a straight face. Some draw on the walls or est dog food or try out mummy's nice new lipstick, and some manage to put a car into neutral and steer it down a little slope, through a flimsy fence, and into the next door neighbour's swimming pool.

Some of them have imaginary friends they talk to. Some of them believe fervently in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy.

People kill bugs all the time. They do it deliberately. It is completely acceptable in most countries and cultures to do so.

You and a few others here are trying to suggest the child is a budding psychopath. It's kinda funny, in a way, but also more than a little concerning.

Putting spiders outside is basically a death sentence.

Myth: "I'm very kind to spiders; when I find one in the house, I put it back outside instead of killing it."
Fact: You can't put something "back" outside that was never outside in the first place. Although some house spider species can survive outdoors, most don't do well there, and some (which are native to other climates) will perish rather quickly when removed from the protective indoor habitat. You're not doing them a favor.
In any case, house spiders are mostly harmless and beneficial. Human property rights mean nothing to other species. There was spider habitat for millions of years where your home is now. My advice is, "just wave as they go by."

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 😳

My four year old pulled a worm in two infront of other children and made them cry. He was reprimanded at school and at home. Just not acceptable behaviour. It was a straightforward life lesson and we moved on.

I was responding to comments to the effect that the teacher is a psychopath.

The child is completely normal and squashing a bug with the foot is a normal reaction to bugs in this society and culture, which the child has clearly learned from observation, probably in his own home.

It's expecting a lot of children of 5/6 to understand the nuance involved in "one bug squashed by you = not ok" / "a gazillion mosquitos killed by other means = a statistic".

It's confusing for a child to hear such an unequivocal message from a teacher about something done frequently in summer by his parents, whom he loves, who are probably kind and loving, and millions of other adults, clearly without much impact on the overall insect population, and clearly without much of a thought.

Out there in the real world, people kill insects. They don't want them in their homes. They don't want them eating their roses or their lettuces or stinging or biting them. It's not ideal, but for a teacher to present the killing of an insect as a moral failing to a child that age, probably in direct contradiction of what the child has seen at home, is getting beyond the remit of the teacher and well into overweening territory.

It's also failing to meet the child where he is and pitching the message in a way that gets him behind it enthusiastically; shaming him is nothing short of an ego trip at his expense, and also detrimental to the message.