Children chasing pigeons. Abusive?

[S1ur]

It is time for the Mumsnet verdict.

Say your piece.

DS#2 chases them whilst flapping his elbows madly. He wants to be a pigeon. But he is an odd child.

Not abusive. But I suppose it's not very nice really but they do flap so wonderfully

To be discouraged, but hardly abusive

mumfor1standmaybe - I quite agree. As a species we are fairly dirty and get the pests we deserve. It makes me laugh when you see the signs threatening you with instant death for feeding pigeons/seagulls, and then see the amount of food and rubbish chucked about the place. Pathetic really.

"If you can chase pigeons, why not ducks?"

Why not indeed

"Or puppies?"

Depends on the age of the puppies, my MIL's love being chased.

"Or sheep?"
A toddler would have a hard time catching a sheep but again it would depend on the circumstances. Lambs that were nearly ready for market might not matter but any rams could be really very dangerous to DC. Ewes with young lambs might also attack them.

Similarly geese and swans are probably best left alone.

Not exactly abusive imo, but I wouldn't let my dcs do it. It's a bit mean and I want them to respect animals.

Upwind - so you would be happy with a chiled chasing a flock of ducks that were paddling happily round a pond? Or a flock of sheep in a field? You might come up against a pretty outraged farmer if you are.

Puppies love to play - but I wouldn't allow indiscriminate chasing by a gaumphing 4 year old!

seeker - it depends on the age of the child. a toddler chasing sheep in a field is just funny, and I doubt a farmer would be bothered about it (assuming it is not lambing season where the protective mother ewes might also pose a danger to the child). Generally sheep will be a hell of a lot faster than children & so not overly stressed by them. Not necessarily faster than dogs though.

I'd never encourage a child to chase ducks. But they can fly away or paddle off if they don't like it. Given that I am happy to eat duck that has been slaughtered for the purpose, I can't take the chasing seriously.

I consider seagulls to be disgusting vermin, but recently I've heard some apparantly hilarious tales from BIL of the various ways to kill them (alkaseltzer in bread, rice in bread, bait on a fishhook etc) I expressed my anger and disgust at such horrible cruelty.

I don't think a toddler chasing sheep in a field is funny - sheep don't know that it's a toddler who isn't going to hurt them.

But as they say, each to their own. I want my children to grow up thinking of animals as living things to be respected, not playthings.

seeker, a toddler has no more chance of catching a sheep in a field than I have. Although they can't fly like pigeons , they would move away if approached and a toddler would be extremely unlikely to get close enough to frighten or indeed chase them. It has nothing to do with respect.

I don't like it and would not let my dc's do it when they were little.
But surely you instill in your children behaviour that you want from the very start, not suddenly expect them not to do something at 5 which you allowed to do at 2,3 and 4. They may not get it straight away but the message does sink in.

OrmIrian - Thanks! You can also say the same about Gulls. They only live and move closer inland because of our rubbish. They live on land fill sites, eating our waste.
It is pathetic really!

think it's a question of picking your battles. if there was the slightest chance of ds or dd actually catching, hurting or even distressing a pigeon then no i wouldn't - as it is there are worse behaviours for me to clamp down on.

no i wouldn't let them do it i mean.

my 18m old caught a pigeon by the tail in princes st gardens. Not sure who was most surprised.

I put it down to the Gardens pigeons staple diet being McDonalds.

coolyourjets - are you sure your DS is not a budding superhero?

Better than a sidekick Upwind!

Not sure Biiiiiiiiird Girl is quite the same though

I am one of those people who are terrified of pigeons, well anything with wings really including butterflies . One of my biggest fears is walking through a public space full of pigeons because I know at some point they are going to do their horrible flappy flappy thing up towards my face.

So I don't let my dcs chase them because of my fear and I hate it when other parents let their dcs do it.

DD does this (taught by dh)
I don't approve and tell her not to

I approve even less when I see mad people feeding the fuckers

I try not to (verbally) abuse pigeons in front of the children. But they are foul.

Or was that fowl?

Chasing pigeons- fine.

Hurting pigeons- not fine. (but luckily difficult as they're hard to catch)

Poisoning pigeons in the park- fine if old enough to appreciate Tom Lehrer.

I don't care if mine chase them. I hate pigeons.