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

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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.

Yes I would think it was ridiculous sorry. It’s really not a huge deal, a 5yo squashing a bug is hardly gonna kill all the bees off. I thought teachers had bigger problems than this

@Giraffesandbottoms are you serious? You kill spiders and insects for no reason whenever you see them? Why?! Have you heard of the biodiversity crisis?

What are the rules around living creatures? It's ok to kill a spider by putting it outside but not to stamp on it?
It's ok to kill ticks, fleas and headlice but not stand on woodlice?
Ok to put pellets down to make slugs explode?

Punish children for standing on a ladybird but then expect them to happily eat tortured and murdered chickens at lunch time... the rules really aren't clear here?

But I think many parents just want to know as much as possible about their child’s day at school, good or bad. And if this (as a one-off) warrants a chat, so do many, many other things. Then surely you have to have a lot of chats at the end of each day, talking through matters which had hopefully been resolved in school.

Obvs different if it’s part of a bigger picture.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I'd want to know. My son is 4 and understands perfectly well that we don't kill creatures. If we see a bug or a spider in the garden, we'll have a look at it, talk about it, but he knows we don't hurt them. If he'd had a lesson in school on the topic, then purposely killed a creature, I'd want to know.

This^
especially if a child was disciplined it’s always better to know why.

This isn't as hard as all the moral philosophers on this thread are claiming.

If this kid killed an animal needlessly, for shits and giggles, that's cruel. I think parents and teachers should make clear that cruelty is unacceptable. Killing a mosquito or eating a bacon sarnie isn't a positive act of cruelty in the same way.

😂😂😂😂😂.

Well, I'm in my 40s and I still kill certain bugs on purpose because they're pests and they don't belong in my home. If they're harmless and have ended up inside by accident, I'll try to remove them without harming them, but no, I don't think a bug is the equivalent of larger animals. And for that matter, I've used mouse traps that kill the mouse, because the humane ones require them to be relocated and that's simply not practical.

So no, I probably wouldn't mention that to a parent unless it were part of a bigger picture of worrying behaviour. If you've asked him repeatedly not to do it and he continues, that would be different.

I don’t care what anyone says, I’m killing the flying ants and silverfish we get in our house

We don't kill creatures unless they are annoying, irritating or scaring you, damaging your food for property, dirty or diseased or they taste good.

Why is putting a spider outside a certain death? Ticks can cause illnesses.

In our house, we put wood lice bugs/spiders/bees/wasps etc outside. No pellets for slugs are put down here either.

I (or anyone, I would assume) wouldn’t punish a child for standing on a ladybird accidentally but this post is about purposely
killing.

I also don’t expect my child to eat murdered chickens at lunch time.

So, those are the rules! Well, my rules.

The child is probably copying the behaviour of their parents so not sure you would get very far talking to them.

Pretty sure the pig suffered a whole lot more cruelty than the squished bug

Where has @PassMeTheCookies said this, you’re making stuff up! Your reply doesn’t even remotely correspond to what you’ve quoted🤣

Ok, so fleas, nits etc. definitely get exterminated. If a load of ants are coming in or infesting along the outside walls we’d be likely to put down ant powder.

If a child stamps purposefully on a bug when you have had a lesson about the topic, they need reminding but not a punishment recorded point for a first offence.

Just mention it next time you have to hand out the 'headlice- take action', letter.

Parents should care if their child has done something deliberately unkind just for the sake of killing something, but clearly many of them don’t.

I’d assume that if a teacher was talking to me about it, it was for a reason.

If a teacher spoke to me about this, I wouldn’t think they were ridiculous. I’d be disappointed in my child and speak to them again at home about it.

I’d be prepared for the parents to not be bothered by it though, kids often get their attitude to things like this from their parents. Not always, but often.

My kids would have been the ones telling the teacher if another child was doing it.

I’d want to know that a member of staff was policing my child’s behaviour and insisting so strongly that something was “wrong” that is opinion. I happen to agree with you that bug squishing is gross but I certainly wouldn’t expect you to give a child a demerit (or whatever) for it. I’d want to support my child’s understanding of what was being said/done.

Not that poster in particular but it's been agreed by everyone on this thread that we do kill loads of creatures for all those different reasons and that is acceptable - but small children need to know that just impulsively stepping on a bug is wrong.

If a teacher moaned to me that they'd punished my 5 year old for stepping on a bug while at the same time they and everyone else are killing creatures for all kinds of reasons I'd think it was ridiculous. I bet the same teacher is merrily swatting flies in the summer.
The teacher saying "I personally don't like it when you step on a bug that is outside and not annoying or irritating anyone and isn't edible" is fine.
Punishing a small child as if they have broken some universal rule is silly.

I would not think it was ridiculous at all. We're strong on kindness and have been from a very early age, so I would definitely want to know about it.

He didn't kill a squirrel or rat did he? A bug ...Give it a rest!
I would think the teacher has lost the plot.

Glad to hear of another parent who doesn't allow pigeon chasing. I see so many just ignoring their children doing it.