How would you react if your child killed something?

[Twiglett]

like a worm / snail / spider etc

on purpose?

(not my child btw)

Blimey, what a reaction. I used to cut up worms and put red and black ants together in jam jars. I promise you that I have turned out to be a very nice young lady.

As an aside, I stood on a slug in bare feet t'other night, that was really disgusting

well we've all just finished our lamb stew .. and very nice it was too

I was just interested in how people felt about kids killing stuff .. but am surprisingly pleased to have found a new topic for argy-bargys

can I point out that Brian on the Magic Roundabout is a snail

snails are sweet

I'll have to try that with the woodlice Fio - they will keep making their way into my kitchen.

I do try to put them out without harming them but I'm so hamfisted

'Snails are sweet'...and very tasty Twig!

hunkermunkfish took ne a while but good joke:o

bob, poor dh is terrified of spiders (so usually kills them), but tries, really, really hard not to show it when ds is around (so takes them outside). Neither ds nor dh are veggies. I wouldn't let a child get away with stamping on a snail, or pulling the wings off a fly. Just plain wrong.

Only read the beginning of this but I hate seeing kids chasing pigeons, I just think leave them alone you little shits!

edam - I can guarantee you that animals are harmed in the production of your vegetables. (Unless you grow them all yourself with no form of pest control).

Cousin's friend's ds killed a hamster by throwing it at a wall ON PURPOSE. He is 5yo and has been expelled from his first school already for- amongst other things- persistently hitting his classmates and teachers. His Mother works with children with behavioural problems

I would say something wet like "oh that was unkind", and would think it was horrid, but I wouldn't be concerned in that sense. Spidermama said exactly what I was thinking- unless you really have a Buddhist attitude, and rehome headlice, the children will immediately pick up on the lack of consistency.

"oh that was unkind" is totally sufficient IMO .. no reaction is just wrong .. I stand by that ..

Oh god, your post wasn't there when I was composing mine, threelittlebabies, please don't anyone think I would react mildly to killing a hamster like that! I meant to say, I would be more upset by anything resembling torture, like pulling legs off, than a quick, well, killing.

Oh, completely agree Twiglett, I would never just let it pass without comment.

Well I kill wasps at every opportunity so what does that make me: a mass murderer?

OTOH, no I wouldn't be very happy if my children killed things deliberately (apart from flies and wasps, and as long as they used a good bit of newspaper and not their bare hands) and I have even been known to tell them to leave alone the ants when they are swarming.

ds1 is asking lots about death at the moment- he doesn't even understand it with regard to humans let alone snails. The hamster thing would worry me, but I wouldn't assume psychopath for a one off.

threelittlebabies, he sounds a shocker but Mum's career not the point,,, before we realised DS1 wa AS I was working for homestart advising parents whilst struggling with what appeared to be a very troublesome kid (well, stilla m but have a reason now)- like to think it just meant I empathised well. The two decently (usually) behaved ones do help though

OK...perhaps a child who could kill an animal it could have any kind of relationship with has a problem. ie a child killing a hamster that it owned or a friend owned. Or anything that clearly expressed pain and/or fear. I daresay that ants and snails express those emotions but we can't see it so in a sense it's not as terrible to see a child kill something like that. If the child was doing it because he wanted to see those emotions he'd be a very sick child indeed. IFSWIM?

It's a dodgy area as many have mentioned already - unless you are a practising Jain (I think that's how you spell it) you will hurt animals everyday directly and indirectly (roads are a killing fields for small mammals, and your beloved mog may well be a killer too, veg/flowers get sprayed with stuff to kill beasties not to mention meat, leather and milk )Even the most life-conscious and gentle human will hurt insects/bacteria whilst doing things that might not be considered essential...ie why must I kill the headlice in my DD's hair? They aren't hurting anyone just making her itchy?

So there....

OK...perhaps a child who could kill an animal it could have any kind of relationship with has a problem. ie a child killing a hamster that it owned or a friend owned. Or anything that clearly expressed pain and/or fear. I daresay that ants and snails express those emotions but we can't see it so in a sense it's not as terrible to see a child kill something like that. If the child was doing it because he wanted to see those emotions he'd be a very sick child indeed. IFSWIM?

It's a dodgy area as many have mentioned already - unless you are a practising Jain (I think that's how you spell it) you will hurt animals everyday directly and indirectly (roads are a killing fields for small mammals, and your beloved mog may well be a killer too, veg/flowers get sprayed with stuff to kill beasties not to mention meat, leather and milk )Even the most life-conscious and gentle human will hurt insects/bacteria whilst doing things that might not be considered essential...ie why must I kill the headlice in my DD's hair? They aren't hurting anyone just making her itchy?

So there....

OK...perhaps a child who could kill an animal it could have any kind of relationship with has a problem. ie a child killing a hamster that it owned or a friend owned. Or anything that clearly expressed pain and/or fear. I daresay that ants and snails express those emotions but we can't see it so in a sense it's not as terrible to see a child kill something like that. If the child was doing it because he wanted to see those emotions he'd be a very sick child indeed. IFSWIM?

It's a dodgy area as many have mentioned already - unless you are a practising Jain (I think that's how you spell it) you will hurt animals everyday directly and indirectly (roads are a killing fields for small mammals, and your beloved mog may well be a killer too, veg/flowers get sprayed with stuff to kill beasties not to mention meat, leather and milk )Even the most life-conscious and gentle human will hurt insects/bacteria whilst doing things that might not be considered essential...ie why must I kill the headlice in my DD's hair? They aren't hurting anyone just making her itchy?

So there....

Why did that post three times????? Odd

Correct spelling for Jain.

But they panic about the micro ife forms they inhale.

You can't win on this one, you just keep getting more and more microscopic.

i d laught na tell ehr she was good and serve it up for supper