Year 6 (11 year olds) torturing worms

But were you also a bully?

I was a primary headteacher. I would have wanted to speak to them seriously about it.

DevilWitch · Today 23:42

Chopping up worms, throwing them at your mates, poking bugs with sticks etc was fairly normal behaviour when I was a child.
almost 40 now and have managed not to assault anyone

I’m 60 and think you’re bloody weird. Why ion earth would you (at any age) enjoy torturing and killing other living creatures? Just sick.

Chopping up worms, throwing them at your mates, poking bugs with sticks etc was fairly normal behaviour when I was a child.
almost 40 now and have managed not to assault anyone

But the take away from all this, and what is important is she learned her lesson and never harmed other animals again. I've seen her with her dogs, she is lovely with them. This is the main thing. If someone is kind to animals their parents have done something right, pretty much.

Yeah I don't like this sort of thing and if I caught any of my children doing something like this they'd get a serious talking to. I'd report it to the teacher.

Me neither. Someone has just said ‘a worm today, a kitten tomorrow.’ LOL. Definitely phone the school when little boys start killing kittens. Not worms.

I have

OP has been on MN for many years. Report it if you think it isn't real.

Adults squash and kill spiders because they don’t like them, the look of them, are scared of them. Millions of people hate spiders and want them killed asap but that doesn’t make them psychopaths. I wouldn’t personally kill a spider, I used a glass and put it outside, job done.

We walk over insects day in day out without a thought given so I can’t get myself worked up about daft kids squashing a worm. What about plants? They are living things?

I would tell my child it’s not kind if I knew they’d purposely done it, but we all do things we regret. My DC stood on a snail in the dark last week and said she felt awful, but she didn’t see it so it was an accident. She hates insects!

Of course it's about the type of animal. The police or RSPCA would have no interest in someone who used fly paper to kill flies, for example.

I'm useless at spotting trolls. I don't seem to ever pick up on them unless it's obvious.

Even if it is a troll, I think the responses here say a lot about what some parents think is 'normal' behaviour for year 6. It isn't normal and any parent who thinks it is, is wrong. It's the kind of parenting that shrugs off name calling thinking it isn't bullying by saying 'oh they're just kids, that's what they do.'

skilpadde · Today 18:52

You cannot be serious, surely

Why? Why do you think it’s ok to stamp on and kill other living things? It’s horrible.

Yes! Empathy is such an important lesson. He will have a better future and be happier than a child who isn't taught to be kind.

What a bloody ridiculous comment

Because the way it is written

Why do you think the OP is a troll?

It's not standard and shouldn't be hand waved away with 'boys will be boys'.

The deliberate killing of a worm isn't the biggest issue here but rather the whole incident and how it happened is quite sickening. The boys in question saw their friend - not even a boy that they may dislike, but their friend - trying to save a worm and rather just let your DS save it (whether they agree saving a worm is important or not), they then purposefully stepped in to stop your DS from saving it. They then stamped on it knowing this would upset your DS and took great joy, not one of them, but all 4, to join in this act and essentially ridicule and upset your DS in the process. They are not your DS's friends! 11 year olds should know better when they can see their friend is trying to do something good. I would worry about this event happening in a similar way on a larger scale in the future. If they don't respect his feelings then he needs to find new friends fast. Not being smug here but my DS' would never ever do this to any of their friends - same age.

Ok it's only a worm and plenty of people (not generally including me) squash spiders and other insects. But I do think killing an insect for the enjoyment of it is different and unnecessarily cruel compared to eg killing a wasp which could sting you/a fly that keeps landing on your food, or a slug that is eating your crop, or headlice making your head itch. In these situations (rightly or wrongly) you are killing something which is causing you a problem of some sort, even if that's you being afraid of a creature that can't hurt you (eg spiders!) You're not killing for fun and laughing about it.

And I also think it was the fact that it was distressing to OPs child and the other kids went out of their way to carry on that is unacceptable, deliberately upsetting another child, and in a group, using violence so he couldn't do anything about it. That is bullying and unacceptable behaviour.

Disgusted by the responses from people who don't think this is a big deal- no wonder these cruel children exist. It is vile to take pleasure in literally killing something, especially when your son was distressed. What horrible, horrible children.

Well this was about 30 years ago . I daresay people parent differently now. I think it depends on the child .I would be lenient for a child who was sensitive or had SEN, for example. Or someone who has been through trauma. That's different .

This can be a normal thing for kids of that age to do if it’s only a one off. I had to look into this for my kids (it turns out it wasn’t an issue thank goodness). But it definitely needs monitoring.