Is this child's behaviour worrying

[socharlotte]

two 5 year olds watching a frog hopping about after school, in school wildlife area, reception aged boy comes up , watches for a few seconds and then jumps, with 2 feet hard as he can on it?
Would you worry what lead a child so young to behave so cruelly?

(this happened a couple of months ago, but has been on my mind, in the light of something else I have heard)

its not nice but it depends on the childs normal behaviour. If he is often randomly cruel then i would worry. If he is normally lovely, gentle etc then i would treat it as incredibly naughty (punish him) but not worry in terms of other problems.

I saw nursery children in a town school stamp on a worm
They had no idea what it was (one said snake) and when I showed them a live worm they were terrifed of it

I would say it shows the traits of what could be a cruel child who could grow up into a nasty teen/adult. Most kids are fascinated by living creatures and would not think to kill it so viciously.

What was the reaction of the other child?

I would also worry about what type of home that the violent child lives in too.

Sometimes children do this to upset the other children and don't give any thought to the animal they're hurting. My son is fascinated by worms, slugs and all little creatures. He has inadvertently been the cause of many a small creature's demise because he makes a big thing of trying to protect them, and other boys think it's funny to squash them and watch my son cry like a baby afterwards.

At that age I think it's more a case of lacking empathy or not having been taught to respect living creatures rather than innate psychopathic tendencies. They don't really understand the consequences of what they're doing. If they're still doing it as teenagers I would be much more worried about their state of mind.

My ds is 5 and I would be horrorfied if he did this. But I sadly I think its quite common. A child in ds year snapped 2 caterpillars not so long ago, ds was quite upset. Another few kids spent their playtime stamping on ants. Not great signs as to how they will grow up into adulthood IMO.

It's not nice to see, but I don't think it means the child is psycho. Most kids at this age will not understand the finality of death.
My DD who is passionate about animals (won't eat meat even) stepped deliberately on a beetle during her year in Nursery at school, she denied it and was upset about it afterwards, but she did it all the same.
I agree with 5dcs - if this was a random act not so worrying overall, but if the child is often cruel is does beg the question as to how they are being treated/what are they seeing at home.

It would worry me I think.

My DS is 4 coming up to 5 and when we are walking to school, I have to avoid every bloody snail and slug with the pram as he won't be happy if I squash anything. TBH I would feel guilty too (spiders don't count, although I feel guilty as well but horror and fear comes before guilt) so I do avoid them but I don't mind as it shows that DS cares about all creatures and their life.

I would hit the roof if I found him doing something like in the OP, luckily it wouldn't occur to him, he would just like to have a good look.