If you're a parent would you think this was ridiculous if I pulled you aside after school for this?

[L4815162342]

I work in a school.

A 5/6 year old today trod on a small bug. He did this on purpose.

I'd like to say it was because he didn't know better but this was half an hour after a lesson on looking after the environment and things we could do to care for nature. Lots was mentioned about animals, etc.

I pulled the child up and spoke to him about his behaviour. He essentially received the equivalent of a bad behaviour point as a result.

If you were pulled aside after school as a parent and told about this incident would you think it was ridiculous?

I know people have different views, some would draw the line at hurting an animal the size of a cat, for example, but wouldn't bat an eyelash at killing a spider.

Last week on the train a tiny bug landed on a woman. She started flapping her arms about, jumped out of her seat, flicked it on the floor then stamped on it and ground it into the floor as hard as she possibly could. I thought it was a completely over the top and ridiculous reaction but some people are really scared or just hate bugs. Personally I can't understand it but I've seen how it develops. My mum used to chase flies round the house waving her tea towel at them to get them out the window, then hey presto my 3 year old niece started getting neurotic and crying every time a fly came in. I wonder why?!

The woman on the train might be this child's mother 😳

In the pretext of them receiving a behaviour point for purposely killing an insect during/immediately after a lesson on the environment and caring for living things, I wouldn't mind being told as a parent. I'd be disappointed in my child for behaving badly.

I think the thing here is to really make the point that there is a difference between killing things when necessary because they are food or a pest, and killing things for fun. With the latter, yes a child should be guided that killing things for fun is not okay at all. That's a horrible trait to have.

Killing animals for food is different - however I realise that not all animals are treated as kindly as they should be and that, again, is not okay at all.

Killing pests because they might cause harm is again different - if there's a fly in your home then it might lay eggs in your food or walk all over your food/surfaces having just come from a steaming pile of dog poo. I have no mercy when it comes to flies - they laid eggs on one of my pet rats some years ago and caused a considerable amount of suffering, not just to him but to me, because I had to have him put to sleep on the same day I found the issue - so I am not going to hesitate to squash a fly if they come into our home. We have rats again, so I am protecting them.

But I would NEVER kill a creature for fun.

Try asking my friend who almost lost his leg after being stung by a horse fly to show empathy to them,or to parents of children who would suffer anaphlactic shock from stings. I doubt they would put the insect first before quickly getting rid of the offending creature in their midst.

Are you for real? A 5/6 year old can clearly understand this very well unless there are other issues.

I dont think its worth alarming a parent over the cruelty of their 5 year old because they trod on a beetle. Its a non event. The amount of people that squash bugs! Id ask the child if thats how their parents dealt with bugs? Then id reiterate the main points of the lesson kindly

I have always found it very concerning when children harm animals for fun. Even at that age they understand for sure.

I killed about 5-6 flies in my kitchen yesterday.

I would think listening to so many problems teachers are having in the classroom - if that’s the worst thing that happened in your classroom I would say that’s a good day

What if thousands of children around the world were all squashing bugs together? Would that be a non event? 😱

As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.

Agree — it’s the killing for fun or out of interest that’s the problem. I would want to be told. Not to punish the child but to make sure that I can teach that lesson through conversation and example in the future.

I think it's an opportunity to teach not to punish. I'd think you were a bit trigger-happy with the punishments. But I was pulled aside for all sorts of nonsense when ds was 5 years old - like one day he was sniffing too much and she found it irritating - I asked what she wanted me to do - keep him off school, I was happy to? No, she just wanted me to know that she found it irritating, I suggested that maybe it was her problem then. His teacher was a bloody nightmare.

He might have seen his parents do it. If it was a fly fair enough.

I don’t know about this. As an adult I have sprayed greenfly on a shrub, put down slug pellets in the borders. I have also put down ant powder and sprayed wasps. I don’t eat mammals because I think there is a difference between them and insects. There is terrible treatment at slaughter houses.

Me too!

I would want to know so that I could reinforce looking after all animals at home

No, because gardening has moved on from thinking we own land and can control everything that passes through it.

Do you or his family eat meat? I find it very bizarre that we go to such lengths to lie to children about what farms are for and what happens to the animals who live on them. Our society is built upon systemic violence towards and vicious exploitation of animals, which very few people seem to think/care about at all. You find it abhorrent that a 5 year old would deliberately step on an insect but think nothing of serving h8m a ham sandwich for lunch. Crazy double standards

There are some very worrying views on this thread.

Bugs are an essential part of our ecosystem. A very large proportion of worldwide crops are pollinated by insects.

And its not a townie versus rural/veggie versus meat eater issue either. You can eat meat and care for animal welfare. A lot of farmers do care for the animals that they keep. A lot of farmers care about encouraging wildlife on their farms, growing strips of wildflowers along their crops etc to encourage bees, birds and butterflies.

Err, they are!
There's also a multitude of reasons that insect population has declined so drastically. I think its good to teach children about the environment and kindness amd tolerance to other creatures and each other, which was part of this lesson plan.
That doesnt mean that anyone needs to overreact about a 5 year old standing on a beetle or swatting a wasp and telling their mum.

The fact the 6 year old had chosen to kill a bug after being told about the wrongs in doing it.....yes I'd like to be told.

The we could work on the child being more caring to bugs etc.

If it's a one off, the child might have done it out of curiosity, not malice.

But I'm with you, before having kids I would have said telling the parents is very OTT, but now I have a child, I see empathy starts really early in their development. My DD who is 3 picks up snails from the pavement to avoid them being squashed, I can't picture her killing anything on purpose, even an insect.

I think leave it there, you told off the child, maybe it was just a mindless act to see what would happen. If it happens again bring it up.

You are never too young to be told that killing something for fun or simply because it exists, is completely wrong.

My child has never killed an insect because I’ve taught her right from wrong.

You should only kill something for food or to defend yourself (or perhaps if you have an infestation of a something that could cause problems).

I would want to know. A 5/6 year old should know not to hurt another living thing. As a parent I would want to know about this do I could address it, it’s not acceptable behaviour and o would wonder whether it was a symptom of something else.

Well done you!
This is parenting done right!

Kids make mistakes and will of course do things wrong but unless they’re told otherwise, then they wouldn’t know not to do it again.

I bet your child didn’t do it again.

If kids think it’s acceptable to kill an insect for fun (and according to some posters they don’t have the emotional intelligence to understand that it’s wrong) then they’re going to think nothing of killing a fish, hamster or bird for fun either.

Why would you do that though? Spiders in particular don’t hurt people and arguably help by eating more troublesome insects. I mean in the house if you are scared of them I kind of get it but outside?