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I think this belongs in the parenting section and would like to share this recent encounter. The girl's parents are family friends and there was a reunion recently. Everything was normal until I accidentally saw the little girl doing something disturbing. Apparently she had caught some lizards in a bigger container with holes, all of them about 6-7 inches and had a lizard on each hand. She took turns gluing them on a night lamp lightbulb, was humming, had a smirk and was silently giggling as they were jerking wildly.
As soon as she noticed me, she stopped immediately, her face turned serious and tried giving excuses. I wasn't buying it and got worried. She briefly explained how it was only a brief experiment to see how they move around if they get burn a bit for 3 seconds. So basically she was done it for giggles and curiosity. I've notified the parents about it and they will supervise her closely.
I've heard it's always alarming whenever a kid of reasonable age (not a toddler anymore) hurts any animal for no reason and giggles. We were all that girl's age once but that can't be a normal curiosity. I'm still disturbed by it. That's alarming right?
When I went to kindergarten and I was 2 to 4 years old, I was afraid of hurting insects and even my toys. I can't say that I loved insects. It just seemed to me that they should not be hurt, because they are alive and they can feel pain too. If someone in my presence tried to tear the wings off a fly or, moreover, to kill it, I could get into a fight. I always protected insects. Once children saw an insect flying very lщw and started to fill it up with sand. I rushed to save it. Everyone said it was a bad bug, it's a biter. And I answered that it wasn't, it was good, it wouldn't bite. I pushed everyone aside and dug the insect out. But it bit my finger and it hurt me a lot. I cried a lot and didn't understand how it could do that, when I had saved its life. After that, I didn't protected them so much anymore.
Now I can easily kill a cockroach, because they are nasty and disgusting. I can kill a mosquito and even a fly. But I don't touch spiders, because it's bad luck, even though they're creepy, too.
Yes, it's very disturbing. It's one thing to kill insects (yes, I know, lizards aren't insects), but to actively torture them? Something is seriously wrong. OP, have you ever encountered this little girl previous to this occasion? Have you ever observed anything like this, or any other indication that she might be "off"? I suppose it's possible that this was the first time she had ever done anything like this, but even so, it needs to be nipped in the bud. Let's hope her parents take decisive action in this regard.
I haven't encountered the little girl before. That was the first reunion with that small nuclear family. The girl seemed polite around adults, somewhat sophisticated for her age and an overall sweet demeanor. After we all had lunch, she kindly excused herself from the table and went to her room. The one detail I really caught is her parents explained she had a high IQ for her age.
Several hours ago the mother contacted me and was worried. They couldn't talk about it too much during the reunion since other people were around. We talked for slightly over 30 minutes. She said I was the 2nd person claiming about her daughter mistreating an animal and they're now keeping her away from animals and children. The 1st incident was 2 months ago when they were visiting a school classmate; a girl her same age. The girls were playing and suddenly her classmate was crying. The friend brought her hamster cage, left it on the grass and moments later caught the girl throwing her hamster in the cold pond. It nearly drown but got saved. According to the classmate, she was giggling and smiling, saying she was just trying to see if it can swim and nonchalantly apologized. When her parents confronted her about it, she said both were playing games when the hamster fell out of her hands by accident and was trying to save it.
Needless to say I'm creeped out now. Why are certain little kids that cruel to animals?
I think this belongs in the parenting section and would like to share this recent encounter. The girl's parents are family friends and there was a reunion recently. Everything was normal until I accidentally saw the little girl doing something disturbing. Apparently she had caught some lizards in a bigger container with holes, all of them about 6-7 inches and had a lizard on each hand. She took turns gluing them on a night lamp lightbulb, was humming, had a smirk and was silently giggling as they were jerking wildly.
As soon as she noticed me, she stopped immediately, her face turned serious and tried giving excuses. I wasn't buying it and got worried. She briefly explained how it was only a brief experiment to see how they move around if they get burn a bit for 3 seconds. So basically she was done it for giggles and curiosity. I've notified the parents about it and they will supervise her closely.
I've heard it's always alarming whenever a kid of reasonable age (not a toddler anymore) hurts any animal for no reason and giggles. We were all that girl's age once but that can't be a normal curiosity. I'm still disturbed by it. That's alarming right?
YES it's alarming! She needs help NOW. She sounds like "The Bad Seed". Children who hurt animals are prone to criminal behavior.
Supervise her closely? I do not believe them. She didn't start with this. It's been going on for a while. Fairly sophisticated torture. The humming is horribly disturbing.
She needs to be evaluated in an inpatient setting. Tell the parents that you will call her school or child services if the don't do something drastic.
Poor lizards!
Cruelty to animals is one part of The McDonald Triad. Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and other murderers were cruel to animals as children and adolescents. This is SERIOUS. I personally think it is the most predictive aspect of the McDonald Triad when it comes to future violent behavior.
Maybe you should contact child protective services. The parents could be mistreating the girl. I don’t think that children from loving homes do things like that.
If the parents are not abusing the girl at home, then maybe CPS can get the parents to take her to counseling. The sooner that girl gets help and intervention the better. Maybe the parents need counseling too. This is an issue that needs to be taken very seriously. I would have gotten my child help the first time I learned about her cruelty to animals.
There are children of a personality type who appear to be born lacking the ability to empathize. Sometimes brain damage is a cause. Then there are children who are experiencing trauma and acting it out.
The approach to helping the child might be different in each case.
It sounds like a good omen that the mother was open to discussing this.
There's a woman and her family who moved next door about a decade ago, and dead lizards started showing up on my path right over the fence from their house. I wondered what was killing them, until one day I caught her tossing one over the fence a couple of years ago.
Knowing that she did, I asked "did you just throw a lizard over the fence?" She tried to blame me, so I cussed her out and told her to not do it again, plus her husband was standing right beside her and didn't say anything.
There hasn't been another dead lizard in my back yard since then, and keep in mind this woman is not 7 years old. She is in her 60s. She is crazy in a lot of ways and that is just one of them.
Yes I've already spoken to the mother more. I'm apparently the 2nd person that says anything about the little girl being cruel to an animal.
And that smart child knows it's wrong, covers up her cruelty, lies about it, and is careful to present a sweet demeanor around adults.
She'll probably try to fake out a therapist; her parents should look for one experienced in this kind of behavior.
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