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!!!

That cutting eyes out equates to torture? That’s pretty graphic - you’d need that understanding of that to label it torture? Maybe I’m the one being precious! 🤣 j just wouldn’t worry about a kid using teddy eyes for another project without something else concerning.

@justbinthefeckinbyebyebox

I suppose it because of the way the other children reacted to it. She isn't exactly the nicest child and does like to create upset!!

“Does like to create upset”

So she probably hasn’t “tortured” 🙄 any plushies, just figured it was a great way to get “eeeeugh!” attention. Pearl clutching mother, played by a 6yo 🤣

Complete non issue. Even a 6yo knows a toy is inanimate and can’t be hurt.

I strangled my toy rabbit to demonstrate how a rabbit snare worked. I also poked road kill with a stick. I’m not a psychopath and I’ve never hurt anything...I was just curious and interested in how things worked.

If it's her toy and she wants to use the eyes for something else, that's not torture and it's completely fine.

If it's not her toy, or she's doing it in front of other kids to upset them, or if she's roleplaying a torture scenario, then that's completely different.

But I promise you, in any case, the toy didn't feel a thing.

Seriously nothing wrong with what the girl did. The teacher could have handled it better tho. Asking the girl to be mindful of other children's feelings is okay I guess (tho I'd be inclined to praise the creativity too), but the other children also needed a reminder that toys aren't alive, and that there's no need to be upset about it.

Unless, of course, it was a teddy belonging to someone else. That would need a completely different response.

Have you been watching too many low budget horror films on Netflix?

I don’t find it odd at all, I performed “operations” on my soft toys when I was young, red nail varnish for the blood, sewed them back up, sometimes switched their legs around etc. I’m a reasonably normal, well adjusted adult.

Goslingbird - How can you be disrespectful to a Teddy bear? It's just a toy haha

Ugh this old chestnut:

Parent takes a dislike to somebody else’s child. Convinces own child and others that the kid is mean, a bully etc - essentially leading the way for a group if the child’s peers to exclude him/her.

I’m a teacher and this kind of thing sickens me. Invariably the parent who leads the charge has, surprise surprise, very few friends themselves.

If the kid cut out the eyes with the specific intention of upsetting others, or it was somebody’s much-loved toy, or another child present believed it to be alive, that is of course a little different. Not psychopathic though, just a bit nasty. But it doesn’t sound as if this was the situation here. She just wanted some eyes and perhaps knew her parents weren’t about to rush out and buy her new eyes.

@2toe

I don’t find it odd at all, I performed “operations” on my soft toys when I was young, red nail varnish for the blood, sewed them back up, sometimes switched their legs around etc. I’m a reasonably normal, well adjusted adult.

This is just the kind of thing my daughter would do - she loves learning about how the body works - and I've never considered that it means that she might be a sociopath until this thread Glad to hear you turned out ok!

Oh dear...

I skinned a toy rabbit last week to use the fur for something smaller and cuter - I'd probably better report myself to somewhere for being a total psycho eh?

I wouldn’t judge that but I find myself judging you OP.

I never said I disliked the child!!!

My dc is sometimes very good friends with her and then sometimes not. They argue and fall out.
They decide who to play with at school, I give zero influence.

If she cut them out quickly, snip snip, not torture. Might need reporting as a war crime though.....

So do you feel better about this, now, OP?

As far as I can see, the child is probably not unusually cruel. But it's understandable other children including your daughter got a bit upset and then described the event quite emotionally. Also that some other posters would have felt unsettled too.

So let me get this right-
During a PSHE lesson at school, a 6/7yo girl said she removed a stuffed toys eyes to use for something else.
And some kids in the class starting crying?!
Why?! She's not cutting their stuff up! I'd be genuinely concerned at the over sensitivity and the word torture used, on an inanimate sodding object.

What other purpose?

If it was to replace the ones cut out of the pet hamster I'd probably be a bit concerned.

Our school embalmed the kids teddies as part of their term topic on Egyptians 🤣

We were told to make sure they were old teddies as they were being dissected and dd felt a bit odd about it but found it fascinating at the same time. Brought it home in a little school made shroud and custom decorated box and everything

I must admit I felt a bit odd about it but it the teddies were used for other practical things

My kids have never been allowed or wanted to disrespect a teddy.
How on earth can you "disrespect" a teddy? That is quite a strange turn of phrase.

I used to pull the heads off Barbie Dolls because I liked the "pop" it made.

I'd be genuinely concerned at the over sensitivity and the word torture used, on an inanimate sodding object.

I blame Toy Story. The classic line "he tortures toys; just for fun" is responsible for so many problems

ChloeCrocodile funny that we did watch that at the weekend, explains alot now

Blimey I must be a massive softy compared to most people on MN because I would be a bit upset by this and I am 43! Pretty sure my DC age 6 and 9 would be upset by it! We're all different I guess ...

@justbinthefeckinbyebyebox

I never said I disliked the child!!!

My dc is sometimes very good friends with her and then sometimes not. They argue and fall out.
They decide who to play with at school, I give zero influence.

You don't need to say you dislike her. Your posts have made it fairly obvious:

"she isn't exactly the nicest child"