looking for honest answers am I missing the joke in this?

Good point Nanban - about halloween.

But different. Somehow. (and a four year old?)

Stick to wizards and witches I say.

Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs fame was notorious for his scary snowmen . The neighbours were always complaining about them. Calvin was indeterminate school age but the comic strip was teen to adult audience. Not good for a 4 yr old but it would have amused me now if there were no children around

Disgusting. Not funny at any age. What a warped sense of humour

Tho' it did look like a scene from Midsomer Murders, I must admit!

DON'T mention ketchup to me! DH dropped a plastic bottle of ketchup on the quarry tiled floor of our walk in larder. It burst on contact and splattered everywhere . We had just stocked up for the snow and the larder floor was stacked with tins of soup , nets of oranges, bags of potatoes etc.I'm surprised the ketchup found anywhere to land. Thank goodness it was a plastic bottle so we did not have broken glass to tend with. I did NOT find it amusing!

Carol only gives her reaction, I wonder how the little boy himself reacted? How about all the little boys who dress up ghoulishly for Halloween?

A few years older and he would fall about laughing, but at 4 he would have been pleased to have just made a snowman - and thrown some snowballs at it.

A little boy of 4, Nanban? I think he'd be more likely to be upset and confused....

Oh dear, now I'm worried! I think it hilarious and just the sort of thing a little boy would think funny.

Carol123 Have you asked your DS why he did it?
I agree with everyone else.

Horrified! Sick and senseless and totally unfunny.

Not my idea of humour and totally inappropriate for a 4 year old.

This is worrying, have you told him what you think? At the very least he was being thoughtless so perhaps you need to explain to him what he has done. Poor little chap.

Our GS was so proud of his snowman, it was lovely.

Why would you want to give a child a sick sense of humour in his formative years?

NO!!! Not if the child was 10!!!!!!! Or any age.

It is a disgusting thing to do at 4yr the little lad is more likely to want to keep the snow man warm. (If has not already been associated into violence by his Dad.) I also wonder about the father, its a very sick sense of humor and suggests he didnt even think about how his son might react. If the child was 10 maybe.

Why socialise a child into accepting such distorted experiences of what is for many youngsters a special time to look back on. Introducing weapons into play is not on, for me.

Might be funny if the child was say, 10?
Too much nastiness in the world without daddy contaminating the snowman with it.

Marelli - sick!

Horrible. And weird.

I worry about some parents. A lot. Should they be doing the job at all?

Horrible. I was similarly horrified to see photos on Facebook at Halloween of my friend's daughter and her boyfriend at a fancy-dress party dressed as Madeline Mcann's parents. They were holding a battered doll.

Horrible!

Not nice at all,sending out the wrong messages I think to a four year old.

ginny Probably both the small boys (father and son) thought it was funny.

I agree with you. Not acceptable and I'm suprised your DIL left it there. Mind you, I suspect most small boys would find it funny.