Boy, did I ever screw up!

Elwood 2000 · August 30, 2006

My daughter and I were in the garage a little bit ago, doing a few odd jobs and we heard this squeeking noise. Finally found it and it was a small mouse, in a bucket. Well, around here, fall is aproaching and mice do their best to get inside the house. I have even started catching a couple in traps in the garage and basement.

My daughter (a month away from 8 years old) asked what I was going to do with it. I explained to her that mice were dirty little animals and they would get in the house and we didn't want that. I told her that I was going to kill it and dispose of him. She was not fond of the idea and I thought she undersood. I offered her to go in the house, but she decided to stay. Well, I got a township shovel, put it in the bucket and with one swift "whack", it was all over for the little mouse. Nothing dramatic, just a light smack on the bottom of the bucket and it was over for the mouse.

Instantly, my daughter starts crying and whailing! She runs in the house, crying for Mommy and needless to say, my name is "dirt". Her mom has tried to console her, as have I, but she now sees me as a very bad guy.

My mistake as a father was that I thought she understood the thorough explaination that I gave as to why it needed to be exterminated. She has seen me take out dead mice in traps a lot of times before and she understands that process. In hindsite, her seeing me as the executioner was too much.

Like I said, I have tried every explaination in the world and am out of ideas. My wife said that I just killed "Jerry" from her favorite cartoon "Tom & Jerry".

Any advice from other fathers that may have been dumb enough to get themselves in the shoes I am currently wearing?

GMSea97 · August 31, 2006

Time will heal this situation. That is the only help I can give you, every guy makes a few mistakes.

Dana_15 · August 31, 2006

She'll get over it. I have twin 8 yr old girls (I'm a stepfather) and ironically we found 3 mice in the garage, they were near death because they seemed really lethargic so I was picking one up and one of the kids asked to pick it up and I said sure, she brought it right up to our cat in the yard and fed it to him LOL, she said he looked hungry. My name is dirt also around here.

srlbotanical · August 31, 2006

Girls...

My 8 year old was totally crushed this summer when I dumped a mouse out of a bucket so my rat terrior could play rikki-tikki-tavi. She couldn't stand to see a cute little mouse killed by our dog.

Now, I can imagine that this would be compounded if she saw me do the deed myself. I feel for you buddy.

I think I would let her sleep on it. Maybe take her out one-on-one for an ice cream cone or somthing in a day or so. That alone time with Dad is a great thing...

Good luck!

Steve

Elwood 2000 · August 31, 2006

Just got back from the ice cream thing. Funny you mentioned it. After supper, we went to Dairy Queen. She seems to be doing better, but bedtime here in a a few minutes will determine how she really is.

I feel about 2 inches tall.

doverarjim · August 31, 2006

I will try and make this as short as I can, but living on a farm and raising a family can cause some strange things to happen. When my daughter was 2 or 3 years old she wanted to name all the calfs that were born each year, which was fine by me I would just put her name for them on the ear tag when I put it in and everyone knew who belonged where. At this time we had a bull that fathered 40 calfs for me over 3 years and each and everyone of them were heifers!! Which is great if you are building a herd but very bad if you are hungry for fresh beef. Finally one bull calf was born and as I got the pen out to write the name on it I asked her what the calfs name was and she stood there and told me "Freezer" I looked at her and said WHAT and she stated "Freezer" so before I started to laugh at her I said why? And her answer was well that is where he is going to go!!!!

Like they say out of the mouths of babes.

Mark_in_Tulsa · August 31, 2006

Put a couple in her bed and surprise her, and see if that changes her opinion on them.

jk.

General Lee 01 · September 1, 2006

I take it you don't have a pet snake in the house? (J/K)

It may take a good bit of time, but, as others have said, she'll get over it. You're not gonna be the bad guy forever.

If nothing else, take comfort in the fact the chances of her remembering this sometime down the road from now are pretty slim. I don't remember hardly anything from when I was 8. (but then again, I am a guy )

Sorry if this seems shallow-minded, just trying to brighten your mood on the situation. I apologize if it's not working.

Elwood 2000 · September 1, 2006

She seems to be doing OK now. That night, she was up with "nightmares" a couple times. Now if I mention any type of "critter", she states that "Down by the pond is a good place for (what ever type of animal gets mentioned) to live".

She will bounce back, I just felt REAL bad. In the end, I think I hurt more than she did.

SoCalChris · September 1, 2006

We've got a ton of prarie dogs here, and they're always causing trouble, so I shoot them when I can. One day, my 4 year old son decided that they were his friends, and didn't want me to shoot them any more.

Any time I would get the gun, he'd start pleading for me to "Not shoot his friends". After I pointed out that they were crapping all over all of his outside toys, he now asks me to shoot them

Then there's my 2 year old daughter. If you ask her "What do prarie dogs say?", she replies "Don't shoot!", then start laughing hysterically.

C & A s Dad · September 7, 2006

Elwood, give her the shovel and let he whack you a couple of times. She will feel better for sure.

My 5 y o Daughter is so tender hearted that she cannot watch any TV show or movie that shows any animal in distress. Milo and Otis was a tramatic experience for her.

This past weekend while camping we caught 2 really nice catfish. She did not like this one bit and wanted me to throw them back. We cooked them for supper last night and when I fixed her plate, I put french fries and hushpuppies only on it. She quickly asked where her fish was. I told her that I had assumed that she would not want to eat any of the little fishies. She quickly let me know that she wanted some fish.

By the way I am a card carrying member of PETA. (People Eating Tasty Animals)