What would motivate a 3 year old to throw stones at a friendly squirrel?

[Southsideirish]

I was sitting on a bench in the park today - where middle aged people come and throw crumbs to the squirrels and sparrows - when I noticed this little kid throwing stones and trying to kick at the squirrels who came around.

His mom seemed not all interested in his activities until he wandered out of her field of vision.

What motivated the little sob to be so hostile to friendly creatures?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. It's in all of us to act this way. He's not civilized enough yet to know

that this is not the way to act. It would help if his mother admonished him, or else he's never going to become civilized.

[Southsideirish]

7. Why is it in "all of us" to be hostile and not loving towards one of God'

creatures? I don't get the "meaness" part. I didn't feel that way but being a girl, maybe its different.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I am a girl too, and I can tell you there are just times I have the urge

to really be awful to someone or something. I don't know if it's hormones or chemistry or what, but it comes up every so often. (And I don't mean just physical violence.. I mean taunting people mentally/emotionally too.)

[Spinzonner]

2. Lack of crumbs ?

Maybe you're looking at child behavior from an adult standard

[Southsideirish]

9. Why the tendency towards cruelty?

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. When I was growing up, there was a neighbor whose boy....

who would kill mice and dangle them from the handlebars of his bike. Some kids are just mean. The parents never stopped him, either. Go figure.

[distantearlywarning]

6. These are the kids that grow up to be serial killers.

But hey, it's just mice,right? Nothing to worry about...

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. He's not, but he is weird to this day....

:scared:

[Zuni]

4. If I were his parent

being cruel to little animals would get him in big trouble. You have to nip sociopathic behavior like that in the bud early

[nytemare]

18. Yeah, we see that in *

If Babs would have lit into him for blowing up frogs with firecrackers, we might be in quite a different world.

[JanMichael]

5. Beats me. I guess it's just an urge to try to hurt something vulnerable.

Hopefully it won't last.

[burrowowl]

10. 3-years don't

think that far ahead and haven't really devloped empathy yet: innate hunter instinct or try to catch it. Or many he gets abused at home. The mother should admonished him.

[Southsideirish]

16. She looked like a typical well dressed, "Starbucks" type mom, college

educated,etc. I don't think she would want to hear a lecture on her kid from an old bag like me.

[burrowowl]

28. I was at a cafe bar in France

with my German Shephard lying at my side and a 2-year brat can up and kicked her at the base of the tail. My GS didn't do anything she was a very, too peaceable, sort. I told the mother that firstly for her son's sake, not all dogs will not react; secondly, like the dogs in the cafe, she should have her son under control. I was backed by the owner and everyone else in the place, dipping their croissants into their cafe au lait. Unfortunately, the woman just shouted nothing wrong with her son and left.
You should have pointed out something. Maybe the mother I cited above, after her humiliation, thought about or didn't, never saw her there again.

[Southsideirish]

14. I wanted to go over and say something to his yuppie mom but I knew

she wouldn't want to hear it and would probably get nasty with me.

[Wapsie B]

11. Maybe the kid's related to the chimp.

Firecrackers in frogs, rocks at squirrels.......

[Wcross]

12. At three years old you are still trying to rid yourself of diapers.

How in the hell are you going to know not to throw stones at a bird if you can't remember not to shit your pants?

[carpetbagger]

15. You said it all in this line...

"His mom seemed not all interested in his activities until he wandered out of her field of vision."

All kids do stuff like this. Some children are told it's wrong, and that you shouldn't hurt animals. Many young children need to actually be told that they might hurt the animals by throwing stones at them.

Some, however, aren't.

[Southsideirish]

17. So the natural inclination is to be mean. Is that true for boys and girls

do you think? I don't recall torturing animals when I was a kid or being cruel to them, nor other little girls.

[AlienGirl]

22. I know girls who did...but I think this is different

Actually, I think in this case the kid's intent was to *interact* with the squirrels, rather than harm them. He saw that when he threw rocks, the squirrels *did* something. It probably never crossed his mind that the squirrel could be hurt, and since his mom didn't do anything, he had no reason to think any different about his actions. (My kids chased animals at that age, trying to get them to stay and talk.) Had the mother shown him a better way to have an interaction with the squirrel, he would probably have stopped.

This is really different from the nine-year-old girl I know of who liked taking the eyes out of frogs. In her case, it was happening at an age where she should know better; it was deliberate; and it was pretty clearly disordered behavior. *She* should have been in serious counselling. This kid just needs to be told not to throw rocks.

Tucker

[mosin]

27. Exactly right...

We're talking about a 3-year-old, not a 9-year-old. The 3-year-old doesn't know any better. He's probably not trying to be malicious. He doesn't understand the consequences of actually hitting a squirrel with a rock. In his mind, he's just playing/interacting with the squirrels.

Of course, his mother should have stopped him and explained that he might hurt the squirrels. Most 3-year-olds are capable of understanding that if it's explained.

A 9-year-old or teenager tormenting animals is a different story, one that would cause me some concern.

[sleipnir]

19. Maybe it's not a friendly squirrel, but AN EVIL SQUIRREL!!

And, for the record, after looking at it, "Squirrel" wins for the tonight's "Wow, that can't be the right spelling...but it is" Award.

[kevsand]

31. Yikes!

Don't know where you found that pic, but it's true: there are no friendly squirrels. Have you ever actually looked into their faces? Trust me on this. The only thing those beady little eyes are interested in is stealing your nuts.

[solinvictus]

20. Because we evolved from cannabalistic primates..

and our behavior, in the aggragate, hasn't changed much.

[Ksec]

21. instincts

the hunt

[bushisanidiot]

23. The child is merely playing a game and most likely doesn't know

that she is scaring the animals. she knows that when she takes the action of throwing the rock then the bird/squirrel moves. it's probably fun for her and she probably didn't actually hit any of the animals... did she?

[arwalden]

24. A Young Sociopath... Kinda Like Bush.

These are the folks that torment cats, and blow up frogs with firecrackers. They hit dogs with boards that have nails protruding from them. They torture caterpillars and worms by focusing sunbeams on them with magnifying glasses. They grow up to preemptively invade sovereign countries and kill civilians by the tens and tens of thousands.

[spacelady]

25. please help me not to seem like I am advocating this behavior

the kid is throwing rocks at the squirrel for the sole purpose of seeing what will happen out of sheer, innocent, unmitigated curiosity!
For heaven's sake, this is a teaching moment, not a serial killer in the making.

[noamnety]

26. teaching moment

That's an excellent way to look at it.

The kid has learned he has some power - he can create a cause and effect chain of events. That's a normal stage, yes.

It's the parent's responsibility to teach him how to use that power once he's learned he's got it. The parent should be taking the stones away and replacing them with peanuts or corn, and explaining why she's replaced them.

[friesianrider]

29. God don't get me started...

I think kids with tendencies for violence/harm to animals have serious mental problems and need to be dealt with psychologically IMMEDIATELY.

[hickman1937]

30. Small children don't have empathy. Just curiosity, and energy.

Parents teach these things to them. About 4 or 5 you turn it back to them, and they understand. Some parents don't care. They buy the books with titles like How to Make Your Child a Millionaire, and What Rich People Know About Raising Wealthy Children, and my all time fave, How to Raise a Winner. Empathy is a fault and a weakness.

[nookiemonster]

32. Holy crap! The kid is three!!!

Before I get flamed for taking this stance, can you really expect that child to understand what the hell they are doing? It's called CURIOSITY. This kid has been on this earth for a whole 36 + months and he is expected to understand the ramifications of his actions? That's obsurd.

That's not to say that the parents shouldn't scold and nip it in the bud when it happens. Enough scolding, enough reminding, should hopefully make this a rare occurance.

The whole "He's gonna be a serial killer" killer argument can't be used for everytime something like this happens. I fried more ants than I can count with a magnifying glass during my childhood. I outgrew it.

Now if I'm a serial killer, I guess it just hasn't surfaced yet. It'
s been 36 years, I could snap at any time. :sarcasm: