My sister has just rung me in floods of tears.
Her 3 year old son has accidentally drowned 4 of her 5 kittens in the bath earlier this evening. They were only 5 weeks old.
She had some clothes soaking, and was in her kitchen (tiny flat right next door to bathroom) but didn't realise what he was doing until it was too late.
She was and still is hysterical, blaming herself for taking her eye off the ball for too long. Completely traumatised by having to retrieve their sad little bodies from the bath and no way to save them. One died in her hands. The mother cat is pining outside the bathroom door. The last one survived because he was the only one too timid to come out from under the bed.
Her DS doesn't really understand what he did (and hopefully won't - hope he won't be traumatised by this).
I don't mean to post this just to bum everyone out, but it's yet another reminder I feel, of how you should be wary of very young children and animals. The fact that very young children can get themselves into any amount of trouble very quickly.
When your oldest is only 3 (like mine) I worry that we can give them credit for being and acting older than their capability because they seem so clever and capable already.
But they really are just babies who have learnt to walk and talk and are really only just grasping the beginnings of understanding life and everything it really means.
Not sure that it's a situation anyone can comment on or offer advise about. Just so awful, I wanted to get it off my chest. I am so gutted for my sister.