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Tips for dealing with young kids and "traumatic" experiences?

Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:40 am
Posted by TIGER984
Opelousas, La
Member since Sep 2011
152 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:40 am
So, a little background first. I have a 3 1/2 year old girl who absolutely loves animals! We have 4 dogs at our house, two of which she doesn't play with because they are my hunting dogs and stay outside, and they tend to knock her down, but she will go to the fence and pet them and talk to them. The 2 dogs inside are a 5 year old shih tzu, and we just got a great dane and she is 8 wks old. My mother in law has several dogs, and my mom had a rat terrier that was three or four. She got him about a year and a half ago from an elderly couple who couldn't care for him. Instantly my daughter fell in love with this dog, and him with her, he would whine and get super excited when my mom would say my daughter was coming. She would sometimes beg to go to nana's house just to see Ace. Since she was 2 months old she goes to my moms on thursdays because my mom wants to spend time with her. Well this past thursday at about 9am my mom and my daughter were outside letting ace use the bathroom and from across their backyard( it's surrounded on 3 sides by a piece of woods about 20 acres)a coyote runs out and up to the dog and wrestles him to the ground and then picks him up behind the head and runs back into the woods with the dog still hollering and yelping, all while my mom and daughter watch in horror from 30 feet away! My mom tried screaming to see if he would drop him, but no luck. She didnt want to go after him because my girl would have followed. My mom calls me pretty hysterical at this point, as ace was pretty much a member of the family, and says something got ace, and in the background i can hear my daughter freaking out too. so i haul arse there to see about her and she is crying and asking to go home to see her puppies. Well now she wont go anywhere in our house by herself, and on 2 seperate occasions(the only two times she had to come outside after dark) when we were leaving somewhere after dark she really freaks, almost to the point of hyper-ventilating. Shes never been scared of the dark or anything like that before, and when i have to bring our puppy out at night she begs me not to go and when I explain i have to she tells me to not let anything get the puppy. I understand this was very troubling for her to witness, im just wondering how long its going to take before she somewhat gets over it, or what, if anything, i can do to help her! Its pretty hard knowing what she saw , and seeing her be so scared! I know this is ridiculously long, but thanks in advance for tips!

This was ace:
Posted by GeauxxxTigers23
TeamBunt General Manager
Member since Apr 2013
62514 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:42 am to
shite happens

Kids are resilient

she'll get over it.
Posted by tigahfromtheham
On your left
Member since Jun 2005
5801 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:43 am to
Buy her the movie Lion King
Posted by SabiDojo
Open to any suggestions.
Member since Nov 2010
83989 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:43 am to
If you stare at the words long enough you see a picture. Crazy!
Posted by kingbob
Sorrento, LA
Member since Nov 2010
67234 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:43 am to
There is only one way. Take the girl with you and hunt down and kill the coyote. This will teach her vengeance, justice, and that violence solves everything. These are the tools she will need to grow up to be batman.
Posted by iAmBatman
The Batcave
Member since Mar 2011
12382 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:45 am to
Holy wall of text. Is your enter key broken or something?
Posted by VABuckeye
Naples, FL
Member since Dec 2007
35651 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:47 am to
Posted by brass2mouth
NOLA
Member since Jul 2007
19736 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:48 am to
I came in here thinking this was something legit, but its just a story about how your mom just stood there while a "member of the family" was carted off into the woods to be eaten.

Glad I'm not in that family.
Posted by GeorgeTheGreek
Sparta, Greece
Member since Mar 2008
66542 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 10:56 am to
Could have gone without reading this. Happy Tuesday morning.
Posted by MSMHater
Houston
Member since Oct 2008
22778 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 11:07 am to
That's tough, man.

Mine are 4 & 6, and I think I would just try and make them understand that whole "circle of life" thing. Animals eat other animals. it's ok to be sad but there is nothing for her to be afraid of. It won't help much, and I completely understand the misery of watching your little one hurt like that while you are unable to do anything about it, but as another poster said...kids are resilient. It will pass.
This post was edited on 3/3/15 at 11:08 am
Posted by chRxis
None of your fricking business
Member since Feb 2008
23694 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 11:07 am to
i have a 3 year old and we will soon be dealing with the loss of her great grandmother, who she calls "grandmaw".... i doubt she'll ever remember her personally, but i know for a while after her passing, when we make trips to my parents' house, where my grandmother currently lives, she'll look for her to be there, as she "knows" grandmaw...

losing my grandmother (the only grandparent left) is gonna be hard on us, i know, but i doubt she'll ever remember it.... she's too young, i think, to fully have long lasting memories of sentimental value yet... guess we won't really know until later down the road, but yeah....
Posted by yellowfin
Coastal Bar
Member since May 2006
97767 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 11:08 am to
You need to kill coyote
Posted by Tigerlaff
FIGHTING out of the Carencro Sonic
Member since Jan 2010
20914 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 12:09 pm to
No way in hell I am reading that wall of text.
Posted by Salviati
Member since Apr 2006
5602 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 12:35 pm to
The bigger you make it, the bigger it will be, and the bigger impact it will have on her. So don't make it more drama than you absolutely have to. Only address the issue if you absolutely need to directly respond to a question from her about it.


Let her know that she is safe and protected without directly addressing the situation, the dog, or the coyote.

If you want to kill the coyote, don't involve her in any of it. Don't even let her know that you did and certainly don't show her the dead coyote.
This post was edited on 3/3/15 at 12:38 pm
Posted by Celtic Tiger
Lake Charles
Member since Feb 2005
615 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 12:38 pm to
my youngest was that age when our old dog died. it wasn't violent or tramatic like that, but his breathing changed and he started to try to find a place to hide, so I knew. I wound up telling my boys, about 3 and 5 at the time, that Miles was going to die and we needed to go say goodbye and give him hugs, etc. They took it well, and the young one still mentions missing him from time to time, but in a sweet, not sad way.

kids are tough and/or too young to understand completely, which helps. she'll be fine. especially when you bring her a hooded cape made of coyote pelt and a coin purse made from yote scrote

eta: very much this
quote:

The bigger you make it, the bigger it will be, and the bigger impact it will have on her.
This post was edited on 3/3/15 at 12:47 pm
Posted by Epic Cajun
Lafayette, LA
Member since Feb 2013
32843 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 12:57 pm to
This is why dogs are a bad idea.
Posted by AngryBeavers
Member since Jun 2012
4554 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 1:00 pm to
That's a bold coyote to do that in broad daylight with people right there.
Posted by SpqrTiger
Baton Rouge
Member since Aug 2004
9281 posts
Posted on 3/3/15 at 1:13 pm to
Sorry to hear about Ace.

I'm a veteran parent. Your kid will get over it given time. They really are, like they all say, resilient. Might be a month or two.

That being said... it's your duty now to avenge your dog. You are going to take up coyote hunting. I'm not joking. Your family needs some fricking payback, and you are going to deliver.

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