**Warning: this post has details of animal abuse in it so please skip reading it if you feel it could be to upsetting.
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate spot for this post, so if not please feel free to move it.
I have three sons (Ages - 7, 5, and 3). We were visiting my parents at their home for about 4 days. They live in the middle of a national forest and have 45 acres. It is my sons heaven. They swim in the creek for hours, go hiking, watch the deer and elk, ride on the 4-wheeler with their grandparents, go fishing and many more fun activities. They love it there.
My parents are very different in philosophies than we are. They are very old fashioned, conservative and old school in their thinking. They think we're raising the boys in a hippy liberal household, which may be a little true. Overall though we just skip talking about sensitive subjects such as politics and religion and things seem to go smoothly.
So, to get to the point of this post. I went for a run yesterday morning. My step-dad has been "trapping" (which entails killing) ground squirrels because they have been digging up their lawn and digging under the fence of the garden. When I was gone for a run my step-dad took the boys out to check the traps. There was one trap with a squirrel caught in it and the squirrel was still alive.
Last night after leaving my parents house my two youngest boys mentioned to me that "Grandpa caught a squirrel that was still alive so he hit it over the head with a stick many times. The squirrels nose was bleeding. And then Grandpa threw it in the woods to feed the other animals."
Needless to say, I was horrified. I don't know what to do. My parents place is a place that we all love to be and not seeing my Mom, for me, is not an option. My step-dad is very stubborn, especially when it comes to "his ways" and so he's not about to switch things up for me.
How do you communicate with children about this? Especially when it's the one person that they look up to the most. My step-dad is not going to change his ways, I know that. He thinks that I'm crazy that I don't want the boys to learn to hunt and that I don't want them looking through his magazines on Guns and Artillery.
We have a dog at home and eight chickens. We've been working on teaching the boys compassion for all living things. How do you work through something like this? I'm sad to say that I didn't feel like the boys were too horrified by their Grandpa's behavior. They look up to him so much that I fear they think this is OK to treat animals this way.
Anyone have any ideas or thoughts?
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate spot for this post, so if not please feel free to move it.
I have three sons (Ages - 7, 5, and 3). We were visiting my parents at their home for about 4 days. They live in the middle of a national forest and have 45 acres. It is my sons heaven. They swim in the creek for hours, go hiking, watch the deer and elk, ride on the 4-wheeler with their grandparents, go fishing and many more fun activities. They love it there.
My parents are very different in philosophies than we are. They are very old fashioned, conservative and old school in their thinking. They think we're raising the boys in a hippy liberal household, which may be a little true. Overall though we just skip talking about sensitive subjects such as politics and religion and things seem to go smoothly.
So, to get to the point of this post. I went for a run yesterday morning. My step-dad has been "trapping" (which entails killing) ground squirrels because they have been digging up their lawn and digging under the fence of the garden. When I was gone for a run my step-dad took the boys out to check the traps. There was one trap with a squirrel caught in it and the squirrel was still alive.
Last night after leaving my parents house my two youngest boys mentioned to me that "Grandpa caught a squirrel that was still alive so he hit it over the head with a stick many times. The squirrels nose was bleeding. And then Grandpa threw it in the woods to feed the other animals."
Needless to say, I was horrified. I don't know what to do. My parents place is a place that we all love to be and not seeing my Mom, for me, is not an option. My step-dad is very stubborn, especially when it comes to "his ways" and so he's not about to switch things up for me.
How do you communicate with children about this? Especially when it's the one person that they look up to the most. My step-dad is not going to change his ways, I know that. He thinks that I'm crazy that I don't want the boys to learn to hunt and that I don't want them looking through his magazines on Guns and Artillery.
We have a dog at home and eight chickens. We've been working on teaching the boys compassion for all living things. How do you work through something like this? I'm sad to say that I didn't feel like the boys were too horrified by their Grandpa's behavior. They look up to him so much that I fear they think this is OK to treat animals this way.
Anyone have any ideas or thoughts?