I STILL hate it when people squish bugs. Bugs have a right to live just like humans do. But I am a beekeeper, so that's part of it. I do have an understanding that people have instinctual reactions, but I don't like it and think they could work harder to push back against it. All spiders get a safe pass outside in my house.
I remember my father had ants that would come right into his kitchen for water, and he would never harm them, he just said they aren't hurting anyone...
I also know a mom who actually pulled her kid out of a school when someone killed a praying mantis in front of her son (who felt the same way) and the school did not even talk to the bug killer. She felt that the school was not teaching compassion for other species, and she valued her son's sensitivity and did not want it destroyed by a school that did not teach kindness to animals.
So I would tell him his feelings are valid and that people can be cruel and stupid. In my opinion your son is in the right. Don't teach him that it's okay for people to be cruel to animals and insects, we need more people to stick up for them. I am not a vegetarian, but I subscribe to Temple Grandin's view that nature is cruel, but we don't have to be.
And I think someone from the school should have talked to the kid who killed the bug out of spite, to hurt your child's feelings. Yes they are six, but they are not too young to learn to respect another child's feelings.
