Friday, August 15, 2008

Do not throw the cat!!!

I need help people!

My dear, darling son Eli who professes to love our kitty keeps hurting him instead.

As I was getting Adah cleaned up in the bathroom last night, (don't ask) I spied Eli holding smudge in the air one handed & throwing him like he was competing for the shot put medal or something.

This kid holds my cat sweetly (at times) and tells me how cute smudge is & what a good kitty he is & "oh I love our smudgie" & then pulls a stunt like this.

We are forever at all the kids to not harass the cat - they dearly love to scoop him up from a nap saying 'he wants me to hold him mommy" while smudge meows pitifully, plainly asking me to rescue him from being mauled. They want him to play when he's napping & snuggle when he's on the prowl, yada yada yada.

But Eli takes the cake. I've seen him hold smudge hanging in the air from his front legs, drop him hard on the floor, push him forcefully off the couch & now this.

I did not react well last night. I threw the washcloth onto the counter & blasted into the living room at him, yelling at the top of my lungs "what the HELL are you doing to my cat?" Then I grabbed him by the arm, yanked him over to my recliner & smacked that lil booty (in anger) several times. I know it didn't hurt that much, he's used to getting a spoon but I know I scared the dickens out of him & I know I was not spanking him in the right frame of mind.

Then I sent him to his room while I finished getting the others ready for bed. I made him stay in his room while I read a story to Sam & Adah - he cried at that - but I called him in for prayer time.

I talked to him at length afterwards, I apologised for flying off the handle & tried to get him to understand what he did. I asked him if some huge guy threw him like that how would he feel. Eli said he would be sad, scared & cry & that would be a very bad guy & he would go to jail. I asked him if he felt sad about what he did to smudge & he said "no mom, I feel good."

Wha???

I know he's little & he doesn't get it but he just can't do this to an animal! He's stomped on our dog's feet & tail before, just cos he wanted to. I'm at my wits end & don't know what to do.

Got any ideas?

3 comments:

Rebekah said...

Well, I grew up with 3 brothers- and lemme tell ya, they find the wierdest things amusing.

They used to put furniture polish on the kitchen floor (making it very slick) then throw the cats ball into the kitchen. The cat would chase after the ball. The second his little paws hit the kitchen floor he would spin out of control and slam hard into the back door.

My brothers would laugh and laugh- then do it again.

One time they poured gas on a frog and lit it. That ball of fire hopped all over our driveway.

I could go on-

but considering all this, my brothers turned out normal.
So have faith- I think your little guy is just being a typical boy

Vanessa said...

I think I would consult a counselor. Children that can do mean things to animals often have trouble making the distinction as they grow older. If nothing else, an unbiased opinion may have some good ideas. Until then, protect that kitty, kitty depends on you for it.

Beth Cotell said...

Perhaps he's jealous of the cat. Maybe he thinks (in his little boy mind) that you love the cat more than you love him.

Maybe he just needs a little extra affection. It's so hard to know what's going through their minds.

 
Header image by sabrinaeras @ Flickr