My neighbors daughter had one of those water guns. I told her if she shoots at me, I’ll get the hose and retaliate. She grinned, shot at me, and ran away laughing.
I talked to her dad, he nodded, and when she came back for more mischief, she got wet.
For me it is fine, that bastard will think twice next time.
The bastard who let’s their pet roam and fuck with other peoples property?
Is cat sitting on a fence driving with other people’s property? Are you maga, or have some other mental disability?
If his Dad’s reaction is any indication, he likely won’t.
Except the cat owner is willing to go to bat for the cat
If nothing else that kid will understand he’s picking a fight with more than a cat
I want to believe that, but how will the owner accomplish that with the dad intervening?
Sounds like they already did accomplish that
Idk,
Shouting “Hey, don’t do that” loud and clear may be more effective.
-
kid may have thought they where alone and will get jumped from getting caught.
-
May alert the parents their kid is up to mischief.
-
Doesn’t potentially start an escalation war with neighbors
-
Doesn’t carry the small risk of the child falling or otherwise getting hurt with you as an easy blame.
Think of it like this: Does the kid now understand the “evil” of their actions to try be better next time. Or will they feel vindicated by their parents support against your “evil”
You’re probably in the right here, but at least they’ll know what it’s like to be assaulted with water.
“Teach the bully to be more careful before they torment animals.”
The code of Hammurabi clearly states an eye for an eye.
Or will they feel vindicated by their parents support against your “evil”
Then that’s a parental problem, not a problem caused by the action.
You’re right, but this is fuck around and find out territory. I would want the escalation to make it clear where I stand with my cat.
-
i think i still remember where i was the first time i saw this posted
For me, it was 3rd and Market. It was November 22nd, 1963 at about 1238pm. I was walking past Sal’s Electeonic Emporium when I saw the commotion on the TVs in the display window.
i can only begin to imagine the pandemonium. oh, my god…
We really thought it was about to be World War III.
sad when we found out it was just an old gay ye
Okay, you lost me here. Clearly, I’m not up to date on current events and references.
oh, sorry. so sorry. kanye west made a tweet the other day. that’s all i’ll say. google it, okay?
Were you walking with your dinosaur next to Jesus on the beach when the footprints disappeared?
yes.i don’t know if it matters, but i was also wearing sandals with socks on.
What was Jesus wearing?
Nothing at all.
nothing at all
Stupid sexy Jesus.
Lucky for me I’m one of today’s 10,000 and have not seen this before.
always my favourite reply, and always my favourite comic. be well, my friend.
Date & location please.
18F/CA ;)
18F? Were you born a granny (or old person)?
sorry, force of habit. i’m actually a middle aged dude from canada. (i hope you have a good sense of humour)
it was actually a few days into my first year of college. i remember waking up, seeing it briefly on the news before making my way to school (remember, this was before cell phones and a lot of web stuff). when i got to school, i remember standing just inside the door by the bar watching it all unfold on one of the big, ugly CRT televisions they had mounted in the lobby area. i called my dad, but i don’t remember the conversation. back then i was still a dumb kid in the dial-up internet days, and i was on a big Nostradamus kick. i remember my ex-girlfriend called me up all freaked out because she remembered me talking to her about some shit i read that sounded a lot like what happened at the time. (i don’t believe that stuff now, but it was all really freaky as a kid at the time)
It’s fine. Taking at face value you’re supposedly 18 I was remembered of my kids talking about the old days - i.e. 10 year olds talking about stuff merely 2 years ago (Ok to them that’s like a is decade to us). So that granny comment was tongue in cheek as well… :-)
Some say the neighor is still pounding on the door. But that kid went in Congress.
yeah, and now he’s albert freaking einstein!
As a parent, if my kid did that, I’d likely side with the neighbour. I would put it (very loosely) in the category of “natural consequence” punishments.
It fits the crime, it discourages the crime, it forces empathy with the cat, and it does no real harm.
I like that approach. But when the parent only has their kid’s half of the story, it’s understandable why they would be pissed. I think most of us would be. Why did they do that to my kid? I’d want answers amd I wouldn’t be happy about it.
I suspect most kids who would throw water at a cat like that would not be very good liars about it. Also, adults tend not to dump water on kids for no reason. I would definitely take the time to pick apart what happened, before going full papa bear mode.
I might be pissed, but my instinct would be to find out who I should be pissed at first, before going on the war path.
Many people are not like that.
Unfortunately so. I know I’m slightly weirdly wired.
I agree with you personal. I meant more that people are irrational and if dad comes out back and the kid is soaked and crying, the kids most likely going to say idk she did this to me for no reason
This is my favorite answer. I’d argue that he got less than the natural consequences of his actions. In nature, when one assaults another, even with something as harmless as water, it’s usually reasonable to interpret it as a threat, the response to which is usually violence. That kid is lucky he didn’t get a face full of claws. I’ve gotten a lot worse from gently touching cats that, as it turned out, didn’t want to be touched. Boundaries are important.
Natural consequences doesn’t mean “law of the jungle” here. It just means linking cause and effect in a proportionate manner.
I tend to use a lot of “natural consequence parenting”. Basically, the response should flow from the cause. If you throw water over your friend, you can’t then complain if they throw water over you. You learn that, while it’s fun when expected, it can be deeply unpleasant when unexpected.
It’s a lot more effective than random generic punishments. The trick is shielding them from excessive results, while allowing proportional ones to play out. E.g. swinging on a chair will get a warning, but often not stopped. When they fall, there’s an “I told you so” before/with the cuddle. If there is a risk of a more serious injury however, e.g. the corner of a table where their head may hit, then I step in and stop things.
I don’t have kids but this is pretty much how my dad raised me. It made me really respect when he gave me a hard no for something, it meant “no really the risk majorly outweighs the reward” and even if I didn’t understand it at the time I trusted it. I got a lot of I told you so after varying seriousness of injuries lol. Eventually I learned that the soft warning meant I was going to have a lot of fun but I needed to be ready for if it went sideways. Now I’ve got a pretty healthy sense of my own limits and when to start gauging risk/reward
That’s basically the goal I’m aiming for. It’s also worth remembering to always give an (age appropriate) explanation with the “no”. If you’re using a hard no, then there is something they don’t yet understand. Explaining it lets them integrate that knowledge into their future risk management.
The only downside is their confidence is high enough to terrify me! The job of containing and shaping that confidence, without damaging it gives me plenty of grey hairs.
It’s not really about the proportion. The rest you have right. Things (good or bad) may happen as a result of your behavior (good or bad). Those things are natural consequences. We talk about it a lot in the context of punishing behavior, but natural consequences can also reinforce behavior. Of course, if we design those consequences, they’re no longer natural.
As a native social media pedant, I’d just like to take a moment to split hairs and point out that’s the literal definition of that phrase.
With all that said, I’m glad you’ve taken that approach. They’re very lucky to have you. I wish I could’ve had more adults like that in my life as a child. Here’s to you and your contribution to supporting the next generation. May they pass on those values, too.
That’s why I clarified. There’s 2 ways to read the phrase, one a lot harsher than the other.
It seems to be working well. It also results in me being surprised a lot of the time. I’m ready to deal with a scuffed knee, or a bruised ego. Instead they either get back up and try again, or just pull it off. At that point I need to mentally correct for their new capabilities.
The key thing is, I’m not looking after a small pet, I’m training a future adult. They need to both instinctively understand how the world works, while packing as much awesomeness and magic into the formative years as possible. Letting them learn and practice is a big part of that.
I think it depends a bit on where the cat is. If my cat is in somebody’s yard and the owner does not like it, it’s perfectly fine to spray my cat with water. In fact I do the same to my neighbours cat to prevent cat fights. If my cat is on neutral territory, I would be more pissed.
Agreed, there are 1001 context points that could change things around, one way, or the other.
Throwing water at each other, the way people used to throw eggs…
Don’t worry. Water prices will start going up too.
Cruelty met in kind.
Everyone here balancing the ethics of getting wet like it’s assault.
Water melts snowflakes and wicked witches, everyone else need not worry.
All living things should be used to being wet either all the time or somewhat regularly. To think beyond that, wow, society has its teeth in you and you are lost.
It is assault, though.
Kid acted maliciously towards the cat. It’s not like the kid accidentally knocked a bottle of water and some of it splashed the cat. No. There was a conscious decision to torment the cat by deliberately throwing water over it.
Punishment fits the crime here.
I’ll remember to call the police every time it rains.
The cat could panic, run away and get lost. Small a actions can have big consequences.
If you’re worried about your cat running away you shouldn’t let it roam free.
Good. Get rid of pests.
If only it was that easy to get rid of you.
Or the cat could secretly be a wicked witch, who then vows to make an evil AI to contact aliens in order to slay all humans in revenge. Who knows what monstrous things could happen as a consequence of getting a cat wet???
I never thought of it that way.
battle snare drum to a montage of buying Super Soakers, ending with a one-liner to camera…
…It’s time to get some pussies wet… and witches. But mainly the pussies because the aliens. Damn it, I ruined the one-liner.
Those 40 acid tablets I had in my back pocket though
You’ll be fine in 12 hours.
“I hope you’re free for about a month, man!”
“hey man, am I driving ok?”
“I think we’re parked, man”
Tetris11 was carrying 40 acid tablets that got destroyed by water. 40. That’s as many as 4 tens, and that’s awful.
I was gonna feed them to the ducks 😢
Time to splash the father
plot twist: kids a radical ecologist, keep ya cat indoors.
I agree with the “don’t be shitty to animals” sentiment, but I’m honestly a little surprised no one else has bothered to consider how shitty that cat might be. If it was always shitting in your yard, picking fights your cat or dog, using your bird feeder as a cat feeder, and tearing up your flower beds, then a cup of water is a pretty benign deterrent that still has a chance of being effective.
If they’re caught in the act, sure. A great cat training tool is a spray bottle of water. But from the story it sounds like the cat wasn’t doing anything at the time, so even if it is a nuisance animal, no correlation is made with an act and a punishment. Not true on the kid, he got something right when he did his malicious action, so if he has any intelligence he might connect the two and not do it again.
Lol minus the birdfeeder thing you just described dogs.
Cats bury their shit, tend to avoid dogs / fights with bigger animals, and I’ve never seen one dig up a flowerbed.
Cats bury their shit
In your flower bed, which is how they get torn up. Then when you go to fix them: smelly shit
tend to avoid dogs / fights with bigger animals
That’s cute, cats in my area love fighting everything
Exactly. There are endangered birds and amphibians who call my garden home. I do not want cats going in there and killing them for sport.
Get a catio! Don’t destroy native wildlife.
You can tell the people in here thinking it’s ok to retaliate like that are people that live alone with cats or in their parents basement with cats. I have cats and children. Y’all this isn’t the way to go about this.
pours a basin of water over you
It’s water, get over yourself
At 10 they should know better. Now, I don’t know the dynamic of this “neighborship”, and pettiness is not the way to go about anything. At the same time though, it’s only water.
deleted by creator
My head hurts from reading that. Comma and periods, people. Comma and periods.
I was gifted Robert Merle’s The Day of the Dolphin once. They told me it was a great book. I’m still sure it is, but I couldn’t get past the 2nd page. The lack of punctuation made it awfully cumbersome to read.
…,clea.rly ,.com.,.,mas .,….a n .,.d ,p,e,r,i,o,d,s……,.,.,areimportant
Puntuation is such a waste of space and ink.
haha cool original Hawaiian news paper was like this post missionary and pre overthrow
please dont say we need to use correct grammer its unnecessary periods or commas in all of history have never really added anything to a sentence or body of writing anyways writing is about the soul not trying to control peoples formatting formatting it’s self is often overrated and not at all necessary inorder to discern what the meaning is of the writers passage
This comment just hurts.
What were you saying about “periods or commas in all of history”?
Or something about “the soul not trying to control people”?
thatsthejoke.jpg
Oh I got the joke. I was just responding in kind
holy shit this flew right over peoples heads
I think there are a few people who haven’t spotted that this is sarcasm. At least, I think it’s sarcasm.
That’s the disturbing part, people are so dumb that it’s often impossible to know if it’s sarcasm or stupidity. We’ve gotten to a point where it’s often “this is too dumb/weird/illogical to be sarcasm”.
it may be a fact of matter of opinion of weather or not a thing statment or writing is sarcasm actually matters beyond subjectively evaluation by the person who is interacted with the intended message philosophers amongus often state that the true meaning of communication is blurry to the point that an objective meaning is unrealizable and that the true nature of the message is as it appears to the bee holder
👌
Let’s eat, Grandpa.
Let’s eat Grandpa.
Commas save lives, friend.
Let’s eat out, grandma.
We need to use correct grammar.
Well executed
Boooo
This is what big comma and periods want you to believe. Don’t be a fool!
too many commas and periods to provide a believable refuttal
Too few periods indicate a pregnancy.
Damn, I wish. I wanna form a family so bad
Ur mom is pregagagant.
Does she have starch masks?
No butt her babby got pregant.
If my kid did that, I’d let you splash them again.
Truly cannot conceive of any other appropriate response. My kid’s an asshole sometimes, better he get gentle lessons now.
Seriously my first thought if I saw this all occurring and my kid came complaining to me about it is I’d just say “well this is how the cat feels”
Speciesism
