35 replies to this topic

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

My  friends kid got a hamster for christmas, a day later his mom walked into the room and finds her kid standing over the hamster and it dead.  The kid has tears in his eyes and tells her he didnt know he couldnt squeeze it that hard.  He wants to know if he can get another one, but my friend is worried because she thinks he did know what he was doing and killed it on purpose. My question is should she be worried or should she believe the kid when he tells her it was just a mistake?

[Hasina]

I wouldn't put a living animal in a situation where you don't know if it'll end up live or dead, especially a pet.

[sarah_444]

How old is the kid? It's kind of hard to say whether or not she should be worried without knowing the kid. They are pretty tiny and fragile. My sister in law bought a hamster for my son when he was three. He was only allowed to play with it while supervised.  But if your friend feels like he did know what he was doing, then personally I wouldn't get him another one.

Edited by sarah_444, 27 December 2012 - 06:15 PM.

[ealdwita]

Buy him a Doberman, let's see if he'll squeeze that to death!

[CuriousGreek]

ealdwita, on 27 December 2012 - 06:20 PM, said:

Buy him a Doberman, let's see if he'll squeeze that to death!

LOL

sarah_444, on 27 December 2012 - 06:05 PM, said:

How old is the kid? It's kind of hard to say whether or not she should be worried without knowing the kid. They are pretty tiny and fragile. My sister in law bought a hamster for my son when he was three. He was only allowed to play with it while supervised.  But if your friend feels like he did know what he was doing, then personally I wouldn't get him another one.

I agree!!

[Simbi Laveau]

I dunno .Even as a kid,most of us know not to do certain things with animals .
I had mice and fish ,and I never squeezed them or did weird stuff with them ...

[Beckys_Mom]

A lot of small children will not understand how delicate small animals are.   If the parents are not bothering to teach a child how to handle a small pet, then I cannot see why they would ever allow them to have one in the first place?

When I was small I was given a hamster..I was never told anything about them.  After giving the hamster food, I thought it was having trouble swallowing food, so I held it upside down and shook it, pushing it's cheeks to get the food out.. My mother came into my room and caught me doing this, she quickly took the hamster off me then told me that the hamster was storing food in it's cheeks and she went on to explain more about them..  The hamster was perfectly fine afterwards as was I, because from then on, I knew how to handle the little thing much better..   My mother took responsibility for never explaining to me what a hamster does and how to handle one

My point is, if we do not take some time to explain how to care for any animal, then don't expect a small child with no sense to know better ..Not every parent will bother explaining, so many will think it is cute to hand a child a small pet, but forget that the child could be clueless as to how those little pets need care and handling..

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

The kid is 7 years old, and She had just assumed he would know not to squeeze it to hard.  Now the question is whether he knew that sqeezing it to hard would kill it and was just lying about it bieng a mistake, although he did have tears in his eyes which is throwing me

[Purplos]

Does the kid show other signs of  being a sadistic little monster?

If the hamster was trying to wiggle away, the kid would hold it tighter. Something important could have broken.

I'd have a long talk with my kid, maybe a talk with people at the pet store with him, and get him another hamster. One dead hamster does not a psychotic animal-killer make.

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

Purplos, on 28 December 2012 - 12:24 AM, said:

Does the kid show other signs of  being a sadistic little monster?

If the hamster was trying to wiggle away, the kid would hold it tighter. Something important could have broken.

I'd have a long talk with my kid, maybe a talk with people at the pet store with him, and get him another hamster. One dead hamster does not a psychotic animal-killer make.

Good advice, I dont think shes going to buy him another hamster yet though, because I mean he could have very well known squeezing it would kill it, I dont think the kid is psychotic and only being the age of 7 I dont think he could hide it that well.

[Beany]

Hasina, on 27 December 2012 - 06:01 PM, said:

I wouldn't put a living animal in a situation where you don't know if it'll end up live or dead, especially a pet.

Guinea pigs are more durable, except when they eat plastic blocks kids drop in their cage. Or feathers. Who knew a guinea pig would eat feathers?

[Kazahel]

Being his age and having tears in his eyes I think says everything. Poor kid now knows he killed his pet. I'd get him another and like others have said, teach him.

[Sunny Day]

This is a hard one without knowing anything further about the child (or mother for that matter).  It may well have been an innocent accident (which I'd lean towards TBH) or the kid got a urge to be almighty powerful creature killer, OR he was experimenting with what the poor thing could tolerate and it went too far - that is a not-so-innocent accident.  Whatever happened, obviously it was a big lesson day.  For the kid and the parent.

Hope something was learnt and the poor thing didn't die in vain.

Next purchase should be a book on caring for hamsters and/or a trip to the library.  Then, and ONLY then, once the books have been read and understood by all parties, should another innocent hamster be purchased (with the kids pocket money).

Who knows?  The kid may grow up to a caring and brilliant vet, always working to save lives to make up for this error?  You never know

[R4z3rsPar4d0x]

Sunny Day, on 28 December 2012 - 05:18 AM, said:

This is a hard one without knowing anything further about the child (or mother for that matter).  It may well have been an innocent accident (which I'd lean towards TBH) or the kid got a urge to be almighty powerful creature killer, OR he was experimenting with what the poor thing could tolerate and it went too far - that is a not-so-innocent accident.  Whatever happened, obviously it was a big lesson day.  For the kid and the parent.

Hope something was learnt and the poor thing didn't die in vain.

Next purchase should be a book on caring for hamsters and/or a trip to the library.  Then, and ONLY then, once the books have been read and understood by all parties, should another innocent hamster be purchased (with the kids pocket money).

Who knows?  The kid may grow up to a caring and brilliant vet, always working to save lives to make up for this error?  You never know

Yeah thats true or he could grow up to be a serial killer, but its kind of hard for me to gauge the situation because I wasnt there at the time this occured, But I have met the kid and he doesnt seem the type to kill a helpless animal. Like i said in an earlier post hes only 7 years old, so even if he was hiding something I dont think he could do it to the degree that would fool his mom on a daily basis.

[Sunny Day]

R4z3rsPar4d0x, on 28 December 2012 - 05:29 AM, said:

Yeah thats true or he could grow up to be a serial killer, but its kind of hard for me to gauge the situation because I wasnt there at the time this occured, But I have met the kid and he doesnt seem the type to kill a helpless animal. Like i said in an earlier post hes only 7 years old, so even if he was hiding something I dont think he could do it to the degree that would fool his mom on a daily basis.

Sure.  That's why a big part of the situation is the mum.  You're right about a kid of 7 not getting much past his mother.  My daughter is 8 and a terrible liar.  You can read her like a book, truly.  I don't think they learn to get really sneaky until 10 or 11.  Also you can usually tell when tears are fake or not and kids can't hide emotions well (unless they have other issues or an inability to feel empathy).  The mum would know her kid best and know whether he was truly sad for killing the critter.


On a side note, it got me thinking about  "Of Mice and Men".  Good book.