Question
My 2 boys, 4yrs and 5 yrs old, were in my bedroom for a while. I thought they were just being sneaky and innocent fun, so I left them for a while. When they opened the door they said, "The cat did a poo and a wee in your room". I said, "What were you doing that made him do that?" They replied, "We were chasing him and hitting him, and hitting him with a coat hanger hook". So they had effectively been beating our cat for 20 minutes until the cat defecated itself. I angrily told them off, smacked them both, and told them how wrong it was. This is not the first time they have done things like this. They have cornered our rabbits and thrown them and hurt them. We have often intercepted them on this type of behaviour and punished them but they have not learnt. I told one of them that since he hurt our animal, he won't be having a birthday party this year (in four weeks). He was more serious when I told him that, but is this the wrong punishment? Should I be sticking to this punishment or should I change it to something else more appropriate? Is taking away a birthday party (which was not spoke of to him yet) unfair or too harsh? Or will it simply not sink in anyway for his age?
