What to do if your child is hurting animals
Catching a young child harming small animals often leaves parents terrified that it signals a severe lack of empathy or a future psychological issue. Discipline frequently fails to stop the behavior because young kids often do not understand the harm they are causing or act out of curiosity, requiring direct intervention to teach proper treatment of living creatures.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Explaining to the child that small animals have families and feelings too.Did this help you?
- 2Making the child volunteer at an animal rescue or shelter as a logical consequence.Did this help you?
- 3Simply stating clearly that we don't hurt living things for fun, without overreacting.Did this help you?
- 4Having a calm conversation and continuing to observe the child's behavior.Did this help you?
- 5attempting standard disciplineDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Well, I went out to go check on him and spend some time outside, when to my shock, I found him placing a brick on top of a lizard.”source ↗
“I know this is a common issue and can indicate issues with empathy. What is the best way to teach him to not hurt animals or people unless you have a legitimate reason to do so?”source ↗
“I remember I was once 7 or 8 myself, scorching ants with a magnifying glass with a friend.”source ↗
“My sisters and I used to pour salt on snails and watch them fizzle and die… seems so creepy and awful now reflecting on it”source ↗
“When I was a child, I was bathing in the pool at our house and a mouse ended up appearing... I played with him until the poor thing drowned, but I had no idea what I was doing.”source ↗
“lately he’s found an interest in animals, not in a cute way but he’s been harming them.”source ↗
“last week my mother caught him trying to strangle one of her kittens.”source ↗
“Ive tried disciplining him multiple times But it just won’t help.”source ↗
“I don’t want him growing up to be a serial killer or mentally challenged. What should I do?”source ↗
Where this came up
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