“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” — Mahatma Gandhi
In June of this year, a teenage girl in New York City was charged with arson, burglary, criminal trespass and felony aggravated animal cruelty after she broke into her ex-roommate’s apartment seeking revenge. Among other destructive actions, she confessed that she put her alleged ex-girlfriend’s kitten in the oven to die and afterward told investigators “I hate cats.”
They want to pick them up and hug and squeeze them like they do their stuffed animals
They may not understand that animals can feel happiness and pain just like people..
Children need to be taught appropriate ways to interact with pets and to be respectful of pets and wildlife roaming in your neighborhood.
Set A Great Example
Never hit, shake, jerk or yell at your family pet – your child learns most of their behaviors by observing you.
If you overreact in anger toward your pet, show your child that it’s all right to apologize to the pet just as you would apologize to a person.
Do not ignore or dismiss pet-unfriendly actions. When dealt with as though they’ve committed a serious offense, most children will not repeat the behavior.
If you notice a child harassing or abusing an animal, it’s important to put a stop to it right away! Treat it seriously even if it doesn’t seem that the animal was really harmed. Depending on the age and intent of the child, some of these could be innocent behaviors, but the opportunity should be used as a teachable moment to ensure the child understands that harassing animals is unacceptable.
Discuss Inappropriate Behavior
Some inappropriate behaviors that you should discuss with your child include:
Chasing a fleeing animal
Locking a pet in a closet
Leaving a pet outdoors for an extended period of time
Painting a pet’s body
Beyond Inappropriate Behavior
Some behaviors can indicate a more serious problem, especially if performed habitually or out of anger.
These behaviors may indicate a need for professional help:
Giving a pet medications or harmful foods to see what effect it will have
Placing a tight rubber band around a paw or tail
Putting a small animal in a washing machine, microwave or other appliance
Staging fights between dogs or letting one animal chase another
Taking pleasure in seeing a frightened or suffering pet
Responding to adult reprimands by engaging in hostile acts toward the pet
Burning an animal
Teasing an animal with firecrackers
Repeatedly showing off the inhumane handling of a pet to others
Putting an animal in dangerous situations, such as dangling her outside a window or bringing her into the road
What To Do
If you are aware that a child has engaged in the harassment or abuse of an animal:
1. A simple, clear statement such as, “We don’t hurt animals” is far more effective than lecturing.
2. Use the same serious tone of voice that you would use if you saw your child running across the street without stopping to look for oncoming traffic.
3. If your teenager involves the family dog in high-risk activities such as dog fighting, not only should you intervene, but check in to see if your child is being influenced by alcohol, drugs, gambling or other unhealthy behaviors that involve peer pressure.
Remember that for most children, learning empathy and respect toward animals is part of the normal socialization process; they learn these behaviors the same way as learning how to treat other children.
However, if your child persists in harassing or harming your pet in spite of your repeated corrections, consult with your pediatrician, psychiatrist or psychologist.
If your child is an animal lover, the ASPCA has a fun and informational site, called Animaland for kids who want to learn more about how they can help animals and prevent and report animal abuse.
Sara Puls is the creator and community manager of BrewCityTails.com, an online community for pet lovers in Southeastern Wisconsin.
She has a B.A. in Psychology & Sociology, a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning, nine years of experience as a parent and over 15 years experience as a pet parent. She is an expert in bird care and small animal behavior and care, and has provided foster care for dogs and cats.
What lessons have you learned from pets?
I’m sure love and companionship, but we all know our pets give us much more. We hope you will share your stories with us and our readers in the comments.
This one honestly shook me up. Talk about peering into the dark side. What scares me is that some of these signs seem like common sense. I wonder how many parents or guardians overlook them as playful.
You always hear that boys are rough and mean by nature, but this article is a reminder how they learn by example, and they can learn to kill or injure just as well as love.
Over the weekend, I watched the Jeffery Dahlmer movie. Normally I don’t watch these serial killer type movies, but this one was different as it was told not as a gruesome Jeffery Dahlmer story with all the details, but from his direct family’s perspective.
As a parent, you constantly look back and try to figure out ‘what you could have done differently’, which is what the movie did. His actions affected so many other people’s lives and not just his grieving victims family’s.
He also hurt small animals, it started with a goldfish and then his dog. This article is so moving for me, because this is very proactive and not reactive.
Todd – You’re welcome and thanks to you for reading and commenting.
I think you hit on exactly what I was thinking as I was writing; I thought “Is this common sense?” Sadly though, it is not.
Unfortunately there are people need to reminded that animals are living creatures who feel pain, sadness, comfort, happiness, just like we do, and reminded to pass that compassion along to their children.
As for the “boys will be boys” mentality, that is acceptable for explaining away dirty clothes and skinned knees, but it is a mindset that is too pervasive in our society when it comes to hurting others. Violence against any person or animal should never be acceptable.
Vicky – You also hit on something that I considered adding to the article but did not. I didn’t want to scare everyone out of their wits, but the connection between animal abuse and killing and serial killers is ASTOUNDING.
FBI records show that nearly 100% of serial killers start with animals. If that’s not scary I don’t know what is. It’s like a “rehearsal” of sorts for them.
There are also an astounding correlation between animal abuse and domestic abuse.
It’s important to teach our kids compassion for ALL living things because we are truly all connected in many ways.
Thanks for the opportunity to contribute here.
This one honestly shook me up. Talk about peering into the dark side. What scares me is that some of these signs seem like common sense. I wonder how many parents or guardians overlook them as playful.
You always hear that boys are rough and mean by nature, but this article is a reminder how they learn by example, and they can learn to kill or injure just as well as love.
Thanks for sharing this potent piece.
Over the weekend, I watched the Jeffery Dahlmer movie. Normally I don’t watch these serial killer type movies, but this one was different as it was told not as a gruesome Jeffery Dahlmer story with all the details, but from his direct family’s perspective.
As a parent, you constantly look back and try to figure out ‘what you could have done differently’, which is what the movie did. His actions affected so many other people’s lives and not just his grieving victims family’s.
He also hurt small animals, it started with a goldfish and then his dog. This article is so moving for me, because this is very proactive and not reactive.
We can teach our kids these skills.
Thank you so much for such a touching post Sara!
Todd – You’re welcome and thanks to you for reading and commenting.
I think you hit on exactly what I was thinking as I was writing; I thought “Is this common sense?” Sadly though, it is not.
Unfortunately there are people need to reminded that animals are living creatures who feel pain, sadness, comfort, happiness, just like we do, and reminded to pass that compassion along to their children.
As for the “boys will be boys” mentality, that is acceptable for explaining away dirty clothes and skinned knees, but it is a mindset that is too pervasive in our society when it comes to hurting others. Violence against any person or animal should never be acceptable.
Vicky – You also hit on something that I considered adding to the article but did not. I didn’t want to scare everyone out of their wits, but the connection between animal abuse and killing and serial killers is ASTOUNDING.
FBI records show that nearly 100% of serial killers start with animals. If that’s not scary I don’t know what is. It’s like a “rehearsal” of sorts for them.
There are also an astounding correlation between animal abuse and domestic abuse.
It’s important to teach our kids compassion for ALL living things because we are truly all connected in many ways.
Thanks for the opportunity to contribute here.