“Children trained to extend
justice, kindness, and mercy to animals become more just, kind, and considerate
in their relations to each other. Character training along these lines will
result in men and women of broader sympathies; more humane, more law-abiding, in
every respect more valuable citizens." National PTA Congress.
Why do some children become violent? Recent
schoolyard shootings and decades of evidence show that a child’s attitude
toward animals can predict future behavior. According to published reports, in
every highly publicized school shootings, one warning sign appeared
consistently: All the young killers abused or killed animals before turning
on their classmates.
“These are the kids who never learned it’s
wrong to poke out a puppy’s eyes.” Robert Ressler, founder of the FBI’s
behavioral sciences unit, on where serial killers come from.
According to FBI profilers, the American
Psychiatric Association, law enforcement officials, and child advocacy
organizations, people who hurt animals may eventually direct violence toward
humans. Cruelty to animals is considered one of three symptoms that predict the
development of psychopath and is included as a criterion for conduct disorder in
child by the American Psychiatric Association. Experts agree that young people
who hurt and kill (and are allowed to get away with it) never learned empathy;
the ability to understand what someone else feels. Without empathy, it is easy
to depersonalize animals or people into unfeeling machines. So when these kids
hurt someone, they don’t realize that it’s wrong, and they can’t feel the
distress or agony that they are causing. Teaching kindness and respect for
animals is the first step in teaching children empathy.
Because young children naturally identify with
animals and because animals are living beings like us, we can use our
interactions with them to teach children how to behave toward other people.
Incorporating the simple concepts of kindness and respect into our daily lives
and teaching our children to respect and protect even the smallest and most
despised among us will help them to value one another.
Teach kindness by example
- Listen to yourself with new ears—don’t yell “shut
up,” stupid dog,” or other hurtful things.
- Never hit animals.
- Show that you value animals’ lives by being
patient with them, making sure they all wear an ID tag, spaying or
neutering them to prevent unwanted litters, giving them plenty of clean
water, and providing regular veterinary care.
- Include your animals in your life. Allow your dog
to live inside with the family, and spend time with your companion
animals daily, brushing them, playing with them, and walking them.
