I just caught my 2 year old son trying to strangle the cat and when he?

Question

noticed I saw him, he immediately kissed the cat. How should I handle this, talking to him wont work.

I do think he knows what he is ding is wrong, because when I came in and saw him he changed and kissed the cat, as if to not get caught.

Answer 1

Teach him a lesson.. Children around this age get pretty violent...Talk to him and make sure he understands Talking will work. Make him listen to you.

Answer 2

The fact that when he saw you he kissed the cat indicates that he DOES know that what he was doing was wrong. That does not mean that you have a Dhalmer on your hands. He does not realize the consequences of his actions. Try to not leave the cat alone with your son (not to mention not leaving a two year old alone) so that you can make sure to catch him in a "teachable moment" (when you see him doing something and you talk about it right away in language that he understands, it will be much more effective. Even 5 mintues later is too late to have any sort of meaningful conversation. AND YES you can talk to a two year old - you have to temper your language though).

Answer 3

Tell me if you figure out how to handle it. I don't think kids understand the difference between life and death, at least not real well or how easy it can be taken away. My 4 yr old strangles my cats or tries to or pulls their tails and so on. I'm not sure why they do it. All you can do is continue to explain to them that it hurts the cats and that they shouldn't do it and punish him when you do catch him. I had to keep the cats away from my daughter for a while and told her she couln't be near them until she could start treating them right. It helped a little but she still does it sometimes. Good luck if you find something that works let me know.

Answer 4

Children at that age are trying to figure out the consequences of their behavior and are super curious to find out why things happen. I don't believe he was determined to hurt the cat - the little guy is not bad - he is just trying to figure all the things he has to learn. That's why they always "why". :) Give him time and when he tries something bad to the cat, explain to him how bad that is. He can't understand the concept of empathy yet - but he can understand when he is told no.
When he pets the cat and treats it right, don't forget to praise that good behavior.
When he's older you can teach him about how he would hurt the cat and how other's feel pain.
Good luck to you!
And remember - curious kids are usually really smart kids! :)

Answer 5

When my daughter turned 2 she would take her one doll and throw it hard and then when I would look at her she would go over and ask if it was okay and give it a kiss too. I think it might be just a learning experience for them. Keep talking him and if it still goes on and you are worried talk to his doctor about it. Not saying this is the case but its good to nip these things in the bud early on since sometimes this is a sign of bad things to come when they are adults. Dont worry just talk to his doctor and let them give you real professional advice.

Good Luck :-)

Answer 6

All of my sons did the same thing. I suppose this is normal in boys. They don't do it anymore, thank God, but it upset me when they would do things like that. He is only two, and probably doesn't understand what he is doing is harmful to the cat. Just keep telling him it hurts the cat, maybe he will understand that.

Answer 7

You come down like a ton of bricks on your kid and make sure he knows DAMN well that that is not acceptable behaviour. The world needs to come crashing down on a child that has chosen to hurt another living creature.

Tell him as loud and firm as you can without shouting that we do NOT have the right to hurt other creatures. If it isn't going to hurt us, we CANNOT hurt it. Tell him that everything has the right to live and we don't have the right to hurt others. If it happens again he will find that he has lost most of his toys and sources of happiness in life. If it keeps happening, find the cat a new, happy home.

Answer 8

He probably wasn't trying to strangle the kitty. He most likely was trying to pick the kitty up, saw you look, and let go. It is common for a toddler to try and retrieve a pet by its head, neck, legs, or tail. I would show him the proper way to hold your little kitty. That way he has comfort in the family pet also.

Answer 9

yes, he knows. A kid that age usually doesn't care about the fact you sit him down and say "that's not nice, don't do it." I don't think "spanking" is proper, so I'm not telling you to do that. But YELL at him, and then send him to a chair, corner, or room. ALSO if the cat tends to bite, scratch, or like show agression, if he doesn't like it he mite try doing it back to the cat, but with more agression then it did. OR he may just be jelous of the cat. sorry that's all I can say. hope I helped!

Answer 10

Keep him away from the cat. Animal abuse in young children is a very serious warning sign of mental problems. Talk to your pediatrician about it right away.

Answer 11

You might look for a pediatric psychiatrist. He's awfully young for this, but please be aware that mistreating animals is one of the "signs" that a person might have psychotic tendencies. Most serial killers have histories of this type of behavior.

I don't want to say that your kid is going to become an axe murderer or anything, but I think you should definitely take it seriously.

And yest, it's ovbious that he knows what he was doing was wrong - otherwise, he wouldn't have changed his behavior when you walked in.