My Friend's Daughter may need some help!
@redstrawberry113 (102)
United States
March 27, 2007 9:14am CST
A friend of mine informed me yesterday that she is concerned about her daughter and wanted to know my opinion. Her child is 4 years old and has been showing some peculiar behavior. She loves to catch lizards and pull their tails off. My friend saw her do this once and made the mistake of saying "Don't worry it will grow back" She regrets saying this because now her daughter pulls their tails off everytime. Another instance she stomped a little green tree frog, and she's done this a few times. They also have a cat that is pretty laid back. The little girl was jumping on a box that the cat was sleeping in. The cat didn't get hurt nor did it care. The most recent thing happened this past Saturday while my friend was mowing her lawn. Her daughter was in and out of the house all day and they just recently bought a new puppy. A mini dachshund...he's no bigger than your hand right now. When my friend went in the house for the night, she noticed the puppy was missing. She asked her daughter where it was and she said she didn't know. So they looked and looked until it was pretty late and then decided they would ask the neighbors in the morning. Well the next day they go to get in the car and there was the puppy in the car. Her daughter had put him in there. He was ok just a little dehydrated. When my friend asked her daughter why she did it, she just said I don't know and then said I didn't want you to get mad because I put him in there. My friend told her that it was not ok and she was mad because she didn't tell her where the puppy was. What got to my friend is that her daughter was "helping" her look for the puppy like she had no idea. My concern is that this child is developing some sort of bad behavior and I don't know what to tell my friend. She thinks there is something wrong but is there something I can show her or find online or anything that may want her to have her daughter evaluated or something!! Thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated especially if you have ever dealt with this in your children.
2 people like this
3 responses
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
•
27 Mar 07
if this was me in your situation i would be concerned too. I think it might be worth while going to see a dr and discussing your concerns. It may well be that this is a young childs way of exploring the world around her, but also could be a sign of a developmental problem. If she is not developing empaphetic skills a child psychologist may be able to help
blessed be
2 people like this
@KissThis (3003)
• United States
29 Mar 07
Both of my boys have been through this stage. Whenever I see or hear about one of my children hurting another living creature I ask them how it would make them feel to have this done to them.It didn't take long for them to realize that what they were doing was wrong. I still have a problem with them hitting each other once in a while but we are working on that as well.
@AngelNicki (412)
• United States
29 Mar 07
I don't want to say that "yes there is something WRONG with this child," but a child who hurts animals for fun definitely needs some sort of help. Your friend should have her child evaluated before the behavior gets more serious... the little girl could end up getting in A LOT of trouble when she gets just a little older!
