My 16 month old daughter just witnessed her grandmother chasing and proceeding to bash a mouse to death. My daughter was within 4 feet of the death site. She was pretty shocked and asked to pacify after. She didn't cry but she was a little upset. I told her that "mice are very dirty". She has helped me find and kill flies and mosquitoes around the house before.
She is very fond of animals. I want her to be compassionate to animals but how do I make sure she isn't in an episode of Hoarders later on because she can't find it in her heart to remove mice from her home? This is along the lines of a previous question asked: How Do I Teach My Toddler Not To Abuse Animals but how do you make the distinction between compassion and cleanliness? How do you teach the difference between pets and vermin?
Edit: We don't have pets. Our relatives don't have pets either. She has been to homes and even spent the night at homes that have pets though.
Edit#2: We were watching Hickory Dickory Dock on YouTube and when the mouse ran down the clock, she was bashing it with the remote... :/