But one of the things about being a girl that one can control is the reaction to all things creepy and crawly. I have made my feelings about bugs and slimy critters no secret but I try to keep myself in check, I really do.
I want to be a good example for the kids, especially Claire, and not push my fears on them. If Claire doesn't like bugs, I want it to be something she decided for herself and not because she saw Mommy freak out like this.
So when there is a bug to squish, I bravely stomp on it. I put my big girl pants on and clean up the grossness that the cat drug home. I will even let Hayden show me his frogs, I will not touch but I do look at them, very closely.
I try to encourage the kids to explore the world around them and yes, even touch the slimy, creepy things. I especially encourage Claire to do this. And I thought I was doing a good job but I am here to report that all my efforts have failed.
The other day, Jake, who loves a good bug, found a spider crawling along the floor in the kitchen. He was down, laying on his belly studying the thing, sharing his excitement with anyone who would listen.
His intrigue, interested Claire and she walked over to see what he was looking at.
"What's Thadt, Mommy?" she asked.
I walked over to see what Jake was looking at and when I saw that it was a big, ugly, hairy brown spider, I took a breath, centered my courage and said, "Its a spider, Claire. A bug."
As the words left my mouth and she grasped their meaning, the panic set in and she freaked out,"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
She ran from the spot where Jake was and climbed up onto a chair. And began screaming and pointing, "No Bug! No Bug! Yuckee Bug!"
"Claire," I tried to comfort her, "Its alright. Its just a bug. Here Mommy will kill it."
With that I grabbed the first shoe I could find and began to beat the ever living hell out of that bug. (Maybe a little dramatic, I know but its how I cope.)
Once I was satisfied that it was good and dead, I got a tissue and cleaned up the smushed remains from the floor.
"Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!" she said still holding tightly to the chair.
"Yup it was yucky but now its all gone. Here let me help you down from the chair" I said.
"NO!" she pointed her finger at me, "NO, down. Yuckee."
And I really couldn't blame her. Because even though, I had killed and cleaned up that spider with the boys cheering me on, I would have much rather been up on that chair with her, screaming away.
What can I say, I am a girly girl through and through.
22 comments:
Oh poor Claire! Anna-Lucia is showing a huge fear of anything creepy-crawly, and I'm not sure where she gets it from - not from any of us.
She came running out of the kitchen recently looking fearfully over her shoulder. "An ant is coming!" she screamed.
Sure enough a tiny black ant was making its way slowly across the kitchen floor in her direction.
Flies, mosquitoes, bugs, Grandma's rubber snake to scare the birds away, even my Raspberry Tiger rose, which she is convinced has something to do with an actual TIGER. Terrified.
So I'm feelin' for Claire, I really am.
Graham scans his ceiling and walls every night at bedtime, looking for bugs. He found a spider on the wall last night, which was promptly smushed... as he was saying goodnight to us, he added in the dead spider.."nite nite dead spider"... so freaking funny.
Sometimes I employ the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" methodology!
There are worse things than to be scared of bugs :)
I have a *thing* about spiders and snakes. Luckily...I haven't run into any snakes lately...I see spiders all the time and I have our house exterminated.
Too funny! B will pick up bugs, and frogs and all sorts of critters and it freaks me out. I can handle spiders just don't put me near a mouse.
Good for you for putting on a brave face! I have not been able to set a good example for my kids and Melody is just as squemish as me when it comes to bugs. Thankfully Jack will kill or catch and release them for me. That's kind of nice now, but I'm concerned he's going to scare me with them when he's a teenager!
Well who can blame Claire for just being the girl that she is. I am ok with bugs - snakes, not!
I don't kill bugs unless they come into my territory then it's on like donkey kong & they are going DOWN!
I am a girly-girl too and so is my daughter. We HATE bugs. One time I left her alone in the car to close the garage door. When I came around through the gate I saw her in the car and she was screaming bloody murder and crying and kicking and flailing around like someone was trying to kill her! I raced to the car and opened the door and she flew out screaming "MOMMY! HELP ME!" It turns out there was a tiny moth in there with her, fluttering around and freaking her out. It was very hard to suppress my laughter while trying to calm her down and then try to get her back in the car.
i am so not girly, but when it comes to bugs I go crazy! I can't stand to hear the crunch when I squish em, in fact, the very thought of the post makes me want to take a shower!
Bugs give me the heeby-jeebies. In fact, they make me itch and squirm. Must be a girl thing.
OK, so you picked the WRONG place to live. I can deal with bugs. But house flys annoy the crap out of me! I'm not scared they just get on my nerves! I do not like spiders however. Once I almost drove off the highway because I felt a little tickle in my cleavage on my way to work. I looked down and there was a spider on my ladies that quickly crawled to the underside of my bra (the INSIDE by the way). I have never hit myself in the boob so hard in my life...on purpose anyway. But I squished it, only to get to work and have to go into the bathroom and extract the gooey spider from in my bra under by boob. Awesome!
Aah, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?
I cannot deal with bugs either! I am with Claire, "Yucky:-("
If I'm the only adult around, I'll kill the bugs, but I have to admit I ask my husband to do it if he's home.
Guess I'm probably not setting the best example with that one.
If I'm the only adult around, I'll kill the bugs, but I have to admit I ask my husband to do it if he's home.
Guess I'm probably not setting the best example with that one.
Jen, I LOVE that our posts are on the same topic, but opposite reactions!! (I'm not sure where Maggie gets her bug love, but she also loves worms and other creepy crawling things.)
I am very proud of you! I would have made Jake kill the spider...
I would have been up on the chair too. If it weren't for knowing nobody else would kill it if I didn't, and thinking it might eat me in my sleep.....
Me too!!! Yuck yuck yuck. Spiders I can handle though, for some reason. But nothing else. And God help me if I see a snake. *passes out*
LOL! we haven't had any major bug encounters here that I can recall but we did have a snake encounter this summer. we have a field next to our house and have seen a lot more gardner snakes this year - I think I've seen at least 5 this summer - an all time high. well, anyways, I spotted one in the grass the other day and pointed it out to the kids. They were both curious and a lil excited at first, following it around and trying to get the dogs to "get it!"
Well, a minute later, Jacob got distracted and was looking off in the distance and was standing still. He then remembered what he was watching and looked down just in time to see the snake slithering a little TOO close to his shoe.
It never touched his foot but you'd think it crawled up his leg as he started sobbing and screaming. (and yes, I probably would have freaked if it came that close to me, too...but like you said - we try to be brave!)
I tried to then insist it wouldn't hurt him...but that its a good idea to leave snakes alone, too....I don't think he bought it! LOL!
Oh, bugs creep me out.
I try to keep my fear in but I can't help but scream, especially when a bee comes at me. So now my son is freaked out and my daughter is all, "Ew bugs. Yucky." My Mom who is a hippy and loves all living things is appalled by this..
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