How would you react if your child killed something?

[Twiglett]

like a worm / snail / spider etc

on purpose?

(not my child btw)

tell her to wrong to kill things

Badly. Very very badly. Probably there would be some shouting, and then a lot of very very long detailed conversations about why this was wrong. (Depending on age of child, obviously.)

Given I spent a good part of yesterday losing it because DS1 will not stop chasing bloody pidgeons (what is he, a labrador?), more serious cruelty to animals would drive me around the bend.

how old is the child?

if very young i'd try and explain that it was wrong and why, older child i'd be quite cross as i'd hope to have thought them better by that stage. don't think you can say much if its someone elses kid though, for all you know the parents might encourage it (in relation to isects, not suggesting they tell him it's ok to murder kittens or anything!)

erm, I actively encourage my DD to stamp on the red ants we get infested with every summer.

She won't harm the black ones though.

insects obviously, not isects

Sam did this to a bee yesterday . He just does not GET it, and there's nothinng I can do about that, if anyone has any ideas on a social book to link with it though....

With Stirling, who is a snail basher, I explain that the Mummy and children snails are all sad because Daddy snail jhas gone to Heaven and can't come home any more. DH thinks that mean, but I think you need to put things within their sphere of understanding.

chasing pigeons is ok .. that's what they're there for .. I constantly challenge DS to catch a pigeon

I'd actually be really upset. The idea of doing it on purpose makes me really shudder. I would want to know why. If (which I would pray that it was) it was out of some sort of proto-scientific interest I would (as well as explaining why it was wrong) emphasise that living things are FAR more interesting and buy a desk top wormery to illustrate.

not my kid .. a friend of DS (5 year olds) .. picked a snail off the wall, threw it on the ground and stamped on it

I was flabbergasted .. his mother said nothing .. I overstepped the mark I think by saying something to him but I couldn't let DS think it was even remotely acceptable .. DS not even allowed to pick plants

Ask them why??? from that you can discuss why it's wrong and that everything has a right to live/and a purpose even gross slimy things...maybe they have seen other adults kill bugs and think it's a normal reaction?

I'd be extremely upset and consider taking them to counselling. I honestly would.

depends on their age I suppose. Dd killed a worm the other week but then she is only 2.3. I explained that we had to be really gentle with worms and things like that and now she blows them kisses and rocks them carefully in her hands which might be going a bit far in the opposite direction.
If it was an older toddler I'd explain how its wrong to kill and injure anmals
And with an older child I'd be shocked and horrified and show it. Prob say something like poor whats it ever done to you then?

umm: spider or fly I would cheer

twiglett - that's really horrid. I'm a gardener (well, sometimes) but even I teach the kids to tolerate snails and slugs.

Ugh ugh ugh, Twiglett, that would freak me out bigtime.

But at least I'm not as mean as thewomanwho ... I don't think I'd ever buy a wormery for my kids as a form of punishment!

horrified

dd1 calls worms 'no feet' after the snake on Little Bear

ooooooo Flum

......legs it very quickly to another website......

there were always horrid boys at school who pulled legs and wings off daddylonglegs and ran after screeching girls

a wormery isn;t punishment - it's science and nature. In fact I wouldn't buy a desktop wormery cos I've got an enormous one in the garden. dds go round saying we've got pet worms

that's AWFUL!

it would freak me out b/c almost all serial killers and psychos start out by killing and harming small creatures.

we practice 'healthy relocation' w/regards to beasties in our home.

was wondering if I'm over-reacting because of stories of small boys picking legs of flies etc .. wonder if its a natural development stage (but can't believe that)

it just makes me think of the neighbour kid in Toy Story .. and makes me shiver ... don't want DS thinking its ok .. this kid has some really really great characteristics but tends towards violence IMO .. eek

Blimey, when I was a kid maaaaaaannnnnnnny moons ago, frying ants under a magnifying glass was a daily activity. I can remember cutting worms in half myself as I was told that they could survive this.

If I found my child torturing a cat, i would be horrified, but stamping on an insect? Worth a word along the lines of 'it was doing no harm', but no more than that.

God, i must be weird. I wouldn't condone it but I wouldn't be horrified.

Honest.