Hellobee Boards

Ugh. Yeah that's pretty sad! But one day my daughter saw a bunch of ants crawling around and goes, "oh look! They're playing!" And then proceeded to stomp all over them. I was a little horrified about that one but she's never done anything like it since. (Just the idea that she thought they were capable of playing and still killed them. I'm ok with squishing bugs in the right circumstances).

Is it normal that he stepped on a frog? I mean, it's not outside of the realm of things that kids do, but maybe he was more reacting to the tone of your voice and the fact that you were trying to tell him what not to do that he defied you?

I don't think an isolated incident means that the kid has anything wrong with them though. I do think if a child is repeatedly abusing an animal, that's a sign to delve deeper, but a single incident doesn't register the same with me.

@pinkcupcake: Are you thinking about talking to his parents?

@pinkcupcake: I would be sad for the boy, in this case, if it is truly repeated behavior.

It's hard to know the motive behind actions sometimes. Kids do not have fully developed brains and sometimes, they make bad decisions. There's a thing going on in my town right now, where teenaged boys are riding their bikes into oncoming traffic and playing chicken with the oncoming cars. Why? Because they think they're in control and don't full understand the consequences. Do I think most of them will grow out of that kind of risky behavior? Yes, but there will be one or two that will not and will continue to make choices like this into their adulthood. It's hard to know how kids will end up.

@pinkcupcake: Absolutely not normal and I would tell his mom if you know her. Maybe that's extreme/the minority view but I wont tolerate any type of animal abuse and it's REALLY abnormal for children to intentionally harm an animal.

@pinkcupcake: sounds normal unfortunately

I think it is normal. DD stepped on a caterpillar on purpose at school that they were raising. Since it has happened before I would guess it wasn't addressed with him or maybe not in a way that he could understand why you don't step on it. He might just like the reaction from others.