What would possess a child of 5 to be vicious enough to really hurt another child?

[gebethonson]

My Neice came home from school today after another child had dared her to put her finger into a pencil sharpener! She then proceeded to twist my neices arm so that the sharpener cut her finger! I feel really quite sick that a child would even think to do that to another. What next? The teacher told my neice off for putting her finger into the sharpener and there was no mention about the manipulative little bully who egged her on to do it and then twisted her arm to actually cause harm. I really am beside myself. Should the authorities be involved? surely this is not normal behavior and is indicative of something much more sinister?

5 is too young to properly understand the consequences of actions or to have much empathy. SO what this child did was wrong but not an indication that she's a future axe murderer. Do calm down, OP. Running bleating off to Authority is rarely the best response to anything.

5 year olds do things like this all the time.

What I would be concerned about is the 6 year old I know who just killed his kitten by strangling it then laughed that it was dead and tried to take a picture of it to show his grandfather.

Oh, then the next day, tipped his baby sister out of her pram onto the laminate floor

I am concerned that we are all getting a bit authority mad.
Report them, report them.
This one is the same. I was on a thread the other day about supermarkets, reporting to HV, before you know it its social services and baby P.

This kind of over-reaction , is something i find really quite scarey.

Totally agree colditz!

My potty mouth has become positively cesspit recently in sheer self-defence.

The problem is that next time you are quite likely to have to cope with the thought that it's your own niece- or your own child- hurting another child. Children do. Of course, they need to be told off and punished and made not to do it again. But adults need to cope without giving way to fits of vapour. Seriously. You have to be tough to be around children.

And the parents I know who have cried Involve the authorities when another child has pushed theirs have often ended up with egg on the face when the teacher has pointed out that their own child did something just as bad the previous week and just didn't tell Mum about it.

Ds's bully of infants school turned into a lovely protective boy by juniors. And though ds has never been in trouble at school so far, I wouldn't rule it out, it may still happen.

Has anyone noticed that the op has disappeared

OOOOh colditz chill out.

parker1313, yes the Op has disappeared.
Coldtiz is probably sharpening the ends of her fingers off as we speak.
This thread has made me laugh.
Yes children do strange things.
Doesn't mean they are going to be inside Broadmoor by next week though.
Op, you have over-reacted. You obviously don't have much experience of children and their little ways.
as for online swearing, I'd never fucking do that.

Have you stopped scolding people for being naughty now parker?
Is it someone else's turn to be The Ghost Of Mary Whitehouse?

Actually I haven't disapeared! Just can't bring myself to comment anymore because I feel stupid enough! Thanks to a couple of very sobering comments. I actually have plenty of experience of children as my eldest is 17 and is a fairly well rounded person who has caused me to be concerned once or twice in his life so far and my younger two are 2 and 5. I can't say that so far my kids have behaved in any way like the children involved in sed incident, so it did leave me feeling really flumuxed seeing the effect it had had on my perfectly happy go lucky (5) neice. I did over react, (in fact neurotic was the word I used), in the first instance and I have said that (for those who missed it!) you can't say that you haven't had a time or instance where your own initial reaction would have been over the top I'm sure, if not then you must have the emotional integrity of a stone or, you haven't felt that upset about something. My neice is actually fine now 'thanks for the concern', although she still is nursing her Pepper pig plaster! The girl inquestion was made to appologise in the presence of both sets of parents and the head mistress. So hopefully all trauma done now, a line can be drawn underneath the whole issue. Oh and colditz n co..... Nah you not worth it!

Actually, I agree with Colditz.

The emotional integrity of a stone?

What I have is a sense of perspective, and hundreds of children and parents who are grateful that I didn't and never will call their five year olds manipulative little bullies and imply that they were heading for a life of criminal brutality and a potential sociopath.
Far too Victorian an attitude, even for me.

Yeh thanx Im done now cheers.
(for fuck sake!)