The video below is not gory or too upsetting, but it shows an interesting situation that can come up when you have small children.
Perhaps the first reaction of many parents would be to shout "NO! Put that dirty thing down!" but the calm, measured reaction of these parents is encouraging and heartwarming, in a weird-but-it's-dead! kind of way. Naturalist, David Mizejewski of the National Wildlife Federation, seems to agree it was an appropriate response to an unsettling situation.
It's hard to control your first reactions when your child innocently does or says something unsettling or upsetting. But you might get an opportunity to teach and you'll prevent your unrestrained gasps from making your child feel chastised when she's actually done nothing 'wrong,' if you practice restraint, and think before allowing yourself to react.
Would be interesting to hear the conversation in the bathtub! Such topics as what does "dead" mean, why did Ivy kill the squirrel, why can't I keep the squirrel to play with tomorrow, all present difficult but necessary topics for conversation. And those conversations will be remembered lovingly by the child, instead of only remembering "my father screamed at me to "PUT IT DOWN" and my mother just screamed."
What do you think?
Little Girl Playing With Dead Squirrel
AJ
Kathryn
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