When my son was three I remember him crying on our deck and asking me how he could love a spider and a fly. There was a fly trapped in a web and he didn't know if he should release it or let it be. I didn't have an answer and I remember hugging my little boy with a big heart while he cried sobbing "It isn't fair. It just isn't fair"

Two years later, his school had a visit from an entomologist. Part of the presentation included letting the kids feed a scorpion. My son at five is still the type to get upset if another kid crushes a snail on the sidewalk. I thought holding an insect and then tossing it in with a predator and watching it die would bother him. Apparently he thought it was fascinating and was happy to participate.

I don't know if he has really become less humane or more realistic in the past two years but it is interesting to watch his beliefs on these issues develop.