I have a 5 year old sister and i talk 2 her about how animals feel she says "when i grow up im gonna be a deer hunter..." and more she always talks about those things in front of me and it sdeems like what i told her was meaningless.....i dont know what to do.....

She's only 5 years old. Give her time. At five she has no idea yet of what death means. Five year olds are unable to grasp the concept of death. Death does not MEAN anything to them.

Don't fill her head with things that she is too young for. Let her be a little girl for just a while longer. Okay?

At five years old she should be playing with her dolls and her Duplos. Don't spoil her dreams and her innocence with stuff that is only suitable for older children and adults.

Let her be. Okay?

She might not even realize what being a deer hunter entails, at that age. Maybe you should try talking with her about things that don't involve food or animals?

I'd buy her the movie Bambi

I'd buy her the movie Bambi

man... heart wrenching... good idea, that will definitely change her mind and teach her a valuable lesson :D

I'd buy her the movie Bambi
That's right. Scar her for life. :p

Seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. She's 5. When I was 5, I wanted to be a pirate. :surprised Wait a second! I still do!!

When I was 5 (or thereabouts) I wanted to be a nurse, mainly because my father was a doctor and my parents encouraged interest in medicine/health care as a way of being compassionate towards others. My parents even bought me a toy nurse's kit. (This was in the 1960's, so it probably didn't occur to them then to suggest my being a doctor!)

Then, when I was in college, I applied to nursing school. As I sat in orientation and listened to the speeches, I suddenly realized something: I didn't really want to be a nurse!

My suggestion is to try to teach your sister compassion for animals. Sure, buy or rent Bambi. There are also other movies that express compassion for animals. Five year olds tend to repeat what they've heard, but they don't always understand what they're saying. If you try to impart kindness towards animals, she may grow up to surprise you. :) (She may even go veg!)

Did someone mention bambi? Let me get my hanky, im gonna have to watch that now :cry:

That's right. Scar her for life. :p

Seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. She's 5. When I was 5, I wanted to be a pirate. :surprised Wait a second! I still do!!

I wanted to be a genie.

It's likely she's just imitating an admired adult. As others have said, 5 year olds don't have a grasp of life and death and the seriousness of killing. Is someone in or close to the family a hunter? "I want to be a deer hunter" could simply translate to "I want to be like Grandpa." If an adult she admired was a store clerk, it could be just as easily be "I want to work at Kroger's."
There's no need to traumatize or lecture her. If you want to more gently impart lessons of compassion, there are some decent and more age-appropriate cartoon movies out there, like Bambi, the Fox and the Hound, and Brother Bear.

she doent like the movies that i watch.....she watched lady and the tramp she sung the songs and she hits her barbies! she says "theyre fighting" she hits the dog or cats and says "theyre bad" she says to me "why do you like cats?" woth a strange tone....when i was 3 years old i saved a stuffed rabbit...i guess i thought it was real.....

Well, I do think some kids are more naturally sensitive than others. But, another thought: Do you think she says these things to get the desired reaction from you? She sees that everytime she talks about deer hunting or hating cats, (whether or not she really understands what these things involve) you get upset. It's probably one of the few ways she feel she has power over her older sister, and she enjoys the teasing "game." It's sort of like the sibling who takes delight in devising plots to scare the other, or the toddler who chases his spider-hating mom around with rubber spiders.

Even so, though, there's no excuse for hitting the family pets. It hurts and annoys the animals, and sets her up for bites or scratches. If she won't listen to you, try talking to other members of your family to keep their eyes out for, and correct, cruel treatment.

I wanted to be a hobo at 5 and my big brother wanted to be a freelance gynocologist....He is a Computer Software designer now and I am going for Political Sciences. Things change.

I was going to suggest that when she gets a bit older, you can take her slong to senior citizens centers with shelter dog/cats to teach her about comapssion. But I am always very concerned about children acting violent towards animals...I always worry that it is a pre-incident indicator of future violence and this really needs to be propery handeled ASAP. Hopefully, her aspirations will change as she matures, and hopefully noone will by her a BB GUN. I can't tell you how many hunters I know that buy children BB Guns and it scares me so much.

I wanted to be a genie.

Hehehe :lol:

I wanted to be a mermaid :rolleyes:

I wanted to be a mermaid also. Ever since I saw the movie Splash. :)

she doent like the movies that i watch.....she watched lady and the tramp she sung the songs and she hits her barbies! she says "theyre fighting" she hits the dog or cats and says "theyre bad" she says to me "why do you like cats?" woth a strange tone....when i was 3 years old i saved a stuffed rabbit...i guess i thought it was real.....


goodness . . . have you seen the movie 'the Bad Seed' ;)

You people are freaks. Bambie? That will teach her a real life lesson. I have to go shoot my bow, it's almost deer season.
Troll season, too.

Do you think she says these things to get the desired reaction from you? She sees that everytime she talks about deer hunting or hating cats, (whether or not she really understands what these things involve) you get upset. It's probably one of the few ways she feel she has power over her older sister, and she enjoys the teasing "game." It's sort of like the sibling who takes delight in devising plots to scare the other, or the toddler who chases his spider-hating mom around with rubber spiders.

That's exactly what I was thinking. She's just trying to annoy you.

I wanted to be a farmer with lots of cute pigs and cows and horses until I turned 8 or 9 and realized that farmers killed the animals, I'd been thinking that the animals were just like pets or something.

Maybe your sister thinks that deer hunter is actually running after the deer; not killing it.

My niece is only 2 1/2 and she understands death already.. but a lot of kids aged 2-6 I mentor can not grasp the concept of death and the meaning of related words.

Yes, she tries to annoy ,me, and tells me how shes the boss all the time but she knows what humting is, after my mom hung out with that idiotic hunter, ((MURDERER)) My sister knows that if she hunts a deer, she can keep the head...

I have a 5 year old sister and i talk 2 her about how animals feel she says "when i grow up im gonna be a deer hunter..." and more she always talks about those things in front of me and it sdeems like what i told her was meaningless.....i dont know what to do.....
A friend from college has a 5 year old too. Last time he was out this way we had to eat somewhere that Henry could "Eat plant-eating animals". I'm sure he's just quoting a dinosaur book and seeing himself as a T. rex, but it's still sad.

Yes, our family dog of 14 years died last year when my daughter was 5. She couldn't grasp what that meant. She told everyone about it, but the meaning was lost on her.

Hmm, I missed this thread when it was new. Did anything ever come of the situation?

It reminded me of my 4 (now 5) year old sister. She is often very sweet and knows that I "don't eat animals." That seemed the best way to explain it. So then, almost every time she would sit down to eat (whether I was there or not), she would point to the different foods on her plate and ask if it was an animal. She even asked if corn was an animal! Anyway, then suddenly one day, after she had kind of grasped that concept, we were out to eat together and she turned to my mom and said, "I like eating animals!" It was actually pretty funny. I mean, she is just a kid.

Like someone else mentioned earlier though, the hitting the animals because "they're bad" is not a good thing. It may just be for attention or the reaction, but it needs to be addressed.