Should I be concerned at my son killing flies, bugs etc.

[bumble79]

My son aged 9 has autism and is a little young for his so say the maturity of a 6-7 year old in some aspects.

He keeps killing Bugs, flies, spiders etc.

He doesn't like them and wants them gone but I tell him we must let them out, not kill them.

But he does it anyway when I'm not looking.

He just managed to kill a fly and then decided to cut it in half when I wasn't looking.

This is a relatively new problem.

Posting here for traffic. Should I be concerned? He's really gentle with animals such as cats and dogs but I keep telling him bugs are animals too.

Is killing bugs a sign he's going to have issues? I mean I'm guilty of squatting annoying flies but he seems to like squishing them...

Normal or not??

No id say typical behaviour. Keep reinforcing there being no need to kill them, model opening the windows to go get flues out etc.

I’ll be honest - when I was little I was fascinated by putting ants in spider webs because I found spiders really interesting. I wanted to see how they ate their prey!
I’d say I turned out fairly well adjusted.

nearly every serial killer has killed animals when young but lots of us kill spiders and flies and are still not killing people

Normal.
And flies are not technically animals. They’re in the insect kingdom.

Oh god I remember around that age me and a school friend 'dissected' a slug 😭 I'm the softest and most empathetic person you can imagine now and cry if I hear about animal cruelty and could never kill a bug now. I think most kids have a morbid fascination at that age

Meh, it'd not worry me

I think it's a concern. Does he have a therapist you can ask?

My son has sn but wouldn't kill anything..yes I'd be worried but I presume he has no empathy? If he does then just keep re inforcing it will hurt them !
To be honest I know many adults that murder creatures regularly!!🙄🙄

@PlanDeRaccordement theres no such thing as an insect Kingdom. Insects are within the insecta class, which is within the animal Kingdom. All insects and creepy crawlies and bugs and flies are all animals.

OP you should discourage him taking any pleasure in killing or messing with any animals, big or small

Normal.

We have the same problem with my son (adhd, autism, pda). He crushes snails and has done for years. We have far greater problems with him atm so have not tried to tackle this with any intensity yet.

As a small child I used to scoop water out of our pond and pour it on the patio, for the fun of watching mosquito larvae wiggle and die. I think if it’s just insects it’s nothing to worry about.

@PlanDeRaccordement

Normal. And flies are not technically animals. They’re in the insect kingdom.

Insects are animals..... in fact the most diverse class of animals.

They are neither plants nor fungi, they eat, move, breath, reproduce sexually etc.

What do you think they are if not animals?

Nothing to worry about, but perhaps point out it's not much fun for the bugs.
They also have the right to live .....
unless they're wasps

Would it help if he found out more about them, I do macro photography of insects and it certainly changes how you feel about them. From a perspective of trying to build empathy and respect for living creatures I'd focus on trying to get him to stop it.

Does he show kindness to mammals and humans? I’d be concerned if I were you, but less so if he’s kind to bigger creatures. It’s different if he’s killing them because he’s scared of them, I think.

My son cut a bee in half when he was 4. He's never killed anything since. He's almost 14 now and doesn't show any sociopathic or serial killer tendencies.

@PlanDeRaccordement

Normal. And flies are not technically animals. They’re in the insect kingdom.

Zoologist here. Sorry but you are totally wrong. There is no insect kingdom. Under Linnaean taxonomy insects are part of the animal kingdom. Animalia kingdom to be precise. The other kingdoms are Plantae, Protista, Monera and Fungi. Insects are members of the phylum arthropoda.

At that age I would kill and dissect bugs then look at them through my microscope. Me and a friend used to burn ants with lenses. I am no serial killer but I still kill all flies and pour boiling water on ants nests. I think if he is compassionate to pets I wouldn't be too concerned.

I used to set spiders on fire. I liked the popping sound I turned out to be relatively normal so I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’d be concerned if he was killing larger animals like cats or something

I would say it’s to do with his autism...he hasn’t got the understanding that the fly is it’s own being living it’s own life (however insignificant it might be seen to be).

Just keep doing what you’re doing, reinforcing that you shouldn’t kill because that’s not fair or nice and you should them out to go fly away.

I kill flies, wasps, spiders etc and bugs. I have not been murderous to anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t cut them up and look at them or anything, but I certainly kill and bin or flush them.

That’s why fly swats, fly killer, wasp killer, bug killers are so popular, loads of folks do it.

It’s really nothing to be concerned about

I'd be more worried if he was harming hamsters, kittens, puppies and the such like... any thing fluffy...

I would be worried at the nastiness of it and would not be happy with my children harming any living thing, but then the ethos in our house is that we don't kill anything

I used to kill ants for fun when I was little (me and my friends used to think it was fun to stamp on as many as we could and someone told me that if one got wounded another one would come to rescue them).

I’m a lot more empathetic towards animals and bugs now. The thought of intentionally causing animals and bugs pain makes me feel so sad and ashamed of what I did as a child. I think it’s just a normal part of being a kid. They don’t have the capacity to realise that something as small as an insects have feelings (emotional and physical).