Torturing a soft toy

[justbinthefeckinbyebyebox]

Sorry for this in advance!
Is it ever acceptable for a primary school child to cut the eyes out of a teddy bear to use for other purposes?
I need some prospective but I'm horrified!!!

whoze bear is relevant probli?

Just for my information, who can spell 'relevant' but not 'whose' or 'probably'?

@MrsTerryPratchett

whoze bear is relevant probli?

Just for my information, who can spell 'relevant' but not 'whose' or 'probably'?

No bastard can.

I think she just needed eyes for a project and thought those from that near were perfect. It's not a living thing.

My ex grew up with his dad as a butcher. He often used to chase his sister around with a pig eye, or trotter or similar. She was all 'ewww! It's gross!'. He's a bit of a dick admittedly, but as far as I'm aware he never evolved to chasing her with human body parts 🙄. It's plastic eyeballs not the family hamster?

@Lalliella

My ex filled his Action Man with tomato ketchup then blasted it with an air gun. He’s the most gentle sweet bloke you can imagine (I just met him too young)

Now that is imaginative!

I detrached my teddy bear's arm in order to get the squeak out, as I wanted to see how it worked, but it hasn't led me to try the same on people.

(although maybe that's because people don't have squeaks or maybe because I know how they work now - I don't know!)

And while we're on the topic of toy torture, I always thought Sid from toy story was super creative. He didn't know the toys were alive, he just wanted to make a baby doll robot.

I think children reach an age where they understand that a stuffed toy is just that - a stuffed toy. If she wanted the eyes for something else (craft idea) and didn't particularly care for the teddy then it's fine. No different to cutting the sleeves off a jumper.

'Torturing' it is another matter altogether and very concerning indeed.

Growing up I would often find my toys had been mutilated by my brother. He's not disturbed. He would use parts for his inventions, he was very good at that sort of thing from a very young age. He once stole the voice box from my singing soft toy and somehow put it inside my walkie talkie. To make a door bell for my bedroom. When you pressed the walkie talkie pad you would hear the toys singing. I would rather of had a working walkie talkie and a singing toy. But still, the thought counts.

Jesus Christ. The girl sounds creative and pragmatic, not disturbed. It's a TEDDY, not an animal.

If the adults around at the time acted 'horrifies' and/or disgusted then the other children will feed off that. My guess is that's why they were upset. If your mum was shrieking in horror at the very thought of someone taking a teddy's eyes off then you'd take your mum's lead. If you think she's an unpleasant child who likes to upset then take it at face value - she needed the eyes for something else but used a more gory-sounding description of what she was doing to get a reaction from the other children and, clearly, the adults.

My oldest anthropomorphises all toys and would never do this.

My youngest is very deadpan ‘That’s just a toy’ and would happily cut bits off a Teddy to make something else. He’s incredibly social and kind to humans and animals so don’t think it’s an issue

When my DD got a bit too old for stuffed toys, at around 9, she cut them open, removed all the stuffing and used it to make small cushions which she sewed herself and gave as gifts to family members. I was very impressed with her creativity! She is almost 16 now and definitely not a psychopath, but still very creative and artistic.

It’s not something my child would do. She would see it as hurting the teddy.

I would find it concerning, not creative, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, cuddlies are given that monicker because they are made to resemble animals and we anthropomorphise them (or at least the animal equivalent). Pulling their eyes out would feel weird to me, even as an adult.

In addition, who would destroy something of value for the two tiny marbles? It is very disrespectful.

Obviously, context is everything but I don’t think you are wrong to think it is worrying.

MN is following its usual trope that children are always wonderful and any adult who judges a child is awful. The reality is that not all children are wonderful and most of us know some we would not want our own children associating with.

Lots of kids take things apart to see how they work or just out of curiosity.

When I was 7 or 8 I completely destroyed a table cloth by cutting off a lot of the hanging fringes off "randomly ". I had this intricate role play in my head, where they were actually princesses that had been kidnapped and trapped by being hung by their hair. I rescued them .

Mum was so mad she told the teacher too. Then one day the teacher got mad and used to story to humiliate me in class and as proof of how weird and evil I am.

I don't go round cutting people's hair because they need saving.

I would say, no different to dissasembling lego.
Although if it was done in an acted out torturous way, fair enough, but she needed the eyes for a project and saw teddy as just an object.

@TheReluctantPhoenix

I would find it concerning, not creative, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, cuddlies are given that monicker because they are made to resemble animals and we anthropomorphise them (or at least the animal equivalent). Pulling their eyes out would feel weird to me, even as an adult.

In addition, who would destroy something of value for the two tiny marbles? It is very disrespectful.

Obviously, context is everything but I don’t think you are wrong to think it is worrying.

MN is following its usual trope that children are always wonderful and any adult who judges a child is awful. The reality is that not all children are wonderful and most of us know some we would not want our own children associating with.

Not everyone anthropomorphises teddy bears. I never did.

Not everyone calls them cuddlies (in fact I've never heard that term before).

Value is subjective. If a child isn't particularly into a soft toy, they won't necessarily place value on it. They may well place more value on the thing they're trying to create.

OP - you clearly dislike this child and the other kids are likely to be picking up on your reaction. You can't 'torture' an object.

I'm more worried by your posts than by what this child did tbh.

At that age I used to lash Sindy naked to the mast of my playmobil pirate ship and she would be whipped by all the plsymobil pirates 😳

I was a raging tomboy and I hated sindy.

My sister and I used to make our Barbies meet all kinds of violent deaths. We'd hang them from banisters, take their heads off, and give them graphic "wounds" with crayon. We've both grown up to be relatively normal!

It's totally fine. I shaved my barbie's head, coloured her in blue, cut off her hands and feet and then dropped her down a drain with a rock tied to her, so she would drown. I am a totally nice and normal adult.

Sounds like she enjoys seeing people’s reactions.

Maybe encourage her towards medicine. He might make an excellent surgeon!

Maybe cutting the eyes out for the sake of it? But cutting them out to use for something else seems like the opposite of torture - she knows the toy isn't living and so it's practical to use it for something else?

My sister used to make little cuts in beanie toys and then stitch them up. She wanted to be a vet and it was about making them better...bless

weird but depends the context really hard to judge i wouldn't necessarily be worried but i would be keeping a close eye and encourage more thinking about peoples feelings.Like if my daughter did something to another child i would ask her how would that make her feel