To not want my Grandchild to hunt?

[salsmum]

I am very much into animal rescue and hate to see cruelty against humans AND animals. DIL is pregnant with my 1st Grandchild which I'm obviously very excited about, I texted her today to ask how she was and how DS and 'bump' are and she said she was fine...etc.. and then excited tells me that her Nephew aged just a month into his 8th year is going out on his first hunt . Her family are country people and my DS will be moving to the country once GC comes along. I really hate the thought of any child going hunting especially my GC because I think it's not something a child should see nor be encouraged to take part in. My DIL knows my feelings on animal cruelty and feel upset that she should mention 'the hunt' to me (in an excited-so proud of DN way).

Greengrow - I agree with you as to why do foxes deserve protection and not fishes. I think it is largely due to hunting being viewed as "toffs on horses" (erroneously) - for example, there have been comments on this thread about 'silly clothes'.
I imagine fish suffer as much as the fox but fishing doesn't have the class war aspect.
Chelsy - I agree with you that factory farming is a disgrace. We get our chickens from The Hens Trust. They arrive in shocking condition, shivering with barely any feathers. I would have liked to have prosecuted the factory farm they came from, but DH pointed out that there's no way we could afford to bring a private prosecution, and anyway, if we did the factory farm would probably stop giving chickens to The Hens Trust for rehoming.
(Our hens look great now - all their feathers have regrown and they are great layers and sweet characters).

Have you ever bothered to consider how the slaughter industry in this country works?

And on and on she goes........

I am bemused by the number of posters telling Salsmum she must keep silent about her views. Is this really the way your families work, not daring to offer even the slightest criticism to relatives doing controversial things?

There's a bit of a difference between telling an adult who is an equal, and a child who is impressionable. She is welcome to tell the mother and father.

But by making her disapproval known to the child, she's in essence asking a child to pick between his parents and her approval. That's what's going to alienate her. If her GC is feeling cruddy every time he talks to her about a hunt he's proud of, he'll stop talking to her, or his parents will stop bringing him because he goes home feeling bad.

It's the same reason you don't tell an athiest's child about your religion, heaven and hell, and all that. Even if you truly believe they need to be saved.

You let the child live according to his parent's morals and principals until he's old enough to start deciding for himself.

So, 7 years old is not the right time to express disapproval outside of a "I don't personally like hunting, but I'm so glad you had a good time". 13, might be a good time to talk about the ethics of it because they are at the age to decide for themselves what's right or wrong.

Hounds have to be the most drilled, ordered, controlled, trained dogs out there. How do you think people out walking their pet dogs usually stop them from chasing and killing animals? And then compare that to professionals who spend all year specifically training dogs to be controlled. Do you think people should be banned from walking their dogs in the countryside just in case one of them might catch and kill a rabbit or something?

And first prize for the most mind numbingly stupid comment goes to........ Chelsy. Give her a round of applause.

I'm bemused that the hunting apologists keep assuming that those who oppose hunting are fine with fishing. Several of us have said we aren't.