Incase you ever have an event like this. Grain of salt though, I’m a youth worker but dont have a degree in child psychology. You ask the child to imagine how the animal feels. Even if the child does not have empathy, the imagine part forces their brain to try to understand. If it persists also seeking professional help never hurts.
This exact thing happened with my cousin. We were staying at a cottage with his family and he had a day where started really enjoying catching frogs and yeeting them against rocks to kill them for some reason. He must have killed like 30 when his mom found out. Then she explained to him that frogs are living animals with mommys and daddys of their own and my cousin suddenly became so traumatized he cried for hours.
I used to love doing these types of things as a child and I was terrified of dismemberment in movies. One day, my dad told me that what I see in movies is what the frogs, fish, and bugs that I’d torment (essentially anything that didn’t make terrifying noises) would endure. That was a massive turning point in my life.
When I was four I stomped on ants for fun. Then one day my big sister rushed over and buried one of them and put a marker on its grave.
I still stomped on them, but kept thinking about what she did and I eventually stopped.
Animals? Sure. But I have no compassion for insects lol (Yes insects are animals as well, but you know what I mean)
I think having pets really helps establish that empathy link. Growing up with dogs really helped develop an understanding that creatures are complex with individual personalities just like people. Obviously this only goes so far, but I dont think I would have the same level of empathy and respect for animals having grown up without them.
I think having pets (and being good at it, because not everyone gets this next part) can be really useful for understanding and internalising the fact that animals can have personalities and preferences and all these things we attribute to agency, but also, they’re not humans. They don’t think like we do, and to value them properly, we need to not anthropomorphise them.
An example of a pet owner who doesn’t do this is someone I knew who was getting frustrated with her pet for peeing in her bed. She talked about it as if her cat was maliciously doing it, in retribution for not being allowed out of the house due to illness related stuff. She was so angry and because she felt frustrated at not being able to communicate this to her cat (fortunately, at least having the decency to not physically abuse her pets), gave her cat “the silent treatment” for a day whenever it happened. I tried to explain that if a pet is sick in your bed, it’s probably because they felt sick and went somewhere they felt safe, and also that her cat wouldn’t understand this “punishment”, but she didn’t get it. She insisted on seeing an intentionality that wasn’t there
Go to 4chan for parenting advice
I drowned some ants when I was a little kid in our backyard because I was scared of them and also curious. My neighbor told me to think about what I did. I was mortified. I’m a vegan now.
Kids need to learn that kind of empathy. Although I don’t think I would have ever thought about about ripping limbs from frogs.
When I was six, I was fishing with my father and uncle in a boat. We got a fish, and my uncle swiftly killed the fish immediately. I asked why he did it, it would’ve died anyway.
He said something along the lines of “All life should be respected enough not to let it suffer” and nothing else. A useful lesson that changed my view on suffering of animals. The man was later listed as one of the 10 most sought after criminals in my country, but I take the good and leave the bad.
I was horrible to animals as a kid. I teased the neighbourhood cats so much. I once put salt on a snail just for fun, without knowing it would die a gruesome death with just one grain of coarse salt. I’m vegan today…
I wasn’t very nice to plants as a kid. I would often pluck wood sorrel off the ground and eat it right there. I once burned a hole in a leaf using my glasses. I’m a meat eater today.
I once ate 10 live ants as a kid and I’m vegan now too, just thought that was interestingly similarish
I knew someone in elementary school who brought us other kids to his backyard. His older brother was a few years older, and showed us a nest of ducklings. Before any of us knew what was going on he:
- Picks up a shovel and swings on the nest several times
- Pulls out a small tin of lighter fluid and and a lighter, douses them and lights it.
I was so fucking stunned. It is still seared in my memory. I don’t even remember being scared, just immediately outside my body.
Eventually we ran home. I remember feeling nauseous for days. I never told my parents, out of fear, and I regret that.
I later learned that kid was sent to a disciplinary school after threatening his dad with a knife, and soon after the family and my peer moved away.
Wanna guess what the evil brother does for work now?
Three people guessed it correctly before you responded, that’s, uh, that sure says something
Teach them to only kill serial killers?
Alternate universe where Jeffrey Dahmer is instilled with a sense of justice at an early age, and later goes on to hunt down and lobotomize serial killers.
Wait is that just Dexter? I’ve never seen the show.
