(We now resume our regularly scheduled assault on the English language)
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I don’t like to kill bugs. I feel bad if I do kill one, so if I am faced with a bug in my house that wasn’t invited, I am likely to trap it under a cup, then slide something underneath the cup, allowing me to transport it outside. Even if I found a bug like the one on Motherbumper’s page this week, I would still trap it, maybe under a shoebox, throw on some Kevlar protection, and try to remove it. I’d have nightmares afterwards, but I would still remove it. Actually, I think I’d pay someone else to remove it. I can guarantee you that hubby would run away screaming, so yes, I would pay someone. Sometimes bug removal is an ongoing task. I have ladybugs going crazy in my dining room right now, so I’m working away, trying to relocate them all to the backyard, only to let them be killed by some act of nature that I won’t have to witness. I’m ok with that. Pumpkin has never had to contemplate bug-killing. The first time she saw an ant on the floor, she bent down and said, “Helloooooo” to it, so how could I squash it? She thinks all animals are great. There are toads living in our window well that she visits daily. There was a mouse in there that she was excited to see too. I pointed out a snake in the woods, without letting her know that snakes are creepy, and she just said, “Hello snake!”. At the zoo, she looked in a lizard aquarium and called the scaly thing, “beautiful”. Perhaps lizards are beautiful. I’m not going to tell her otherwise. I love that she loves all animals. I am, however, wondering if maybe I’m depriving her of necessary life-skills on the bug-front.
The other day, we were at the in-law's for dinner, when something caught my eye. It was a large centipede making its way across the kitchen floor. I followed it into the dining room, with the idea of showing Pumpkin the "great, big bug". Well, the woman who cares for my in-laws was there, and when she saw it, she let out a shriek and stomped on it. I had to look away, and I made Pumpkin look away. I was actually kind of annoyed that this woman hadn’t thought twice about committing such an act of violence in front of my daughter. Yes, I do realize that I am the one with the problem here. Bugs don’t belong in the house, and we really should get rid of them, I guess. Not everyone is in the bug-relocation business. Anyhow, I left the splattered, bug mess and returned to the dinner table. Pumpkin was wandering around the kitchen, no longer playing with her
toys, and speaking very softly. She approached us at the table, looking disturbed, twiddling her fingers, still talking quietly, and not saying anything that sounded like English. She kind of reminded me of Beaker from the Muppet Show, only with eyebrows. Finally at the end of her string of gibberish, she uttered the words, “Step. On. It.”, still looking disturbed. I KNEW IT! SHE WAS TRAUMATIZED! Or not. She seemed to get over it and resumed regular play activities after a short while. I guess what I was upset about was that it was her first glimpse of how humans can destroy nature. I like keeping her innocent. This is the only time in life that she can acceptably be oblivious to the world's problems, and simply pursue her own happiness. To Pumpkin, the greatest injustice in the world is that she can’t have crackers for breakfast. I don’t want her having bad dreams about bug-squashings. That being said, I also wouldn’t want to see her living in a bug-infested apartment one day, thinking that she is one with nature.
4 comments:
For me, the bigger the bug, the harder it is to kill. So the crickets that invade our house get escorted out in the same way you described (via a cup). Ants in the kitchen, though? I have to say that I smash them. Such a double standard.
OK - first of all, you would have had to WRESTLE the bug from my blog and than pay it to leave. I'm just saying... Anyhooo... I don't like to kill them either and I'd be ticked if someone slaughtered something in front of B. It sounds like she was just processing what happened and I'll bet she will talk about it in a few days (B does that all the time, little sponges I say!).
I remember my sister used to carry ticks out of her house in a cup in front of her three kids, and I would be like, dude, TICKS, they suck your blood, surely they are squash-worthy. But now that I have a baby, and reading your story, I totally get it!
To be honest, I think I did that to my own child last spring, when she was about 2. She was "shoo"-ing a spider off the hood of her hoodie, spread out on the floor prior to flipping it over her head and on. it was a biggish spider. And, well, I have that spider problem. I felt bad right away, but I know it would go the same way again if I were back at that moment. She looked a bit stunned at the force with which I brought down that paperback, though. Oops! Sorry, Pumpkinpie.
(But then again, we dont' shy away from the truth about things like meat and animal food chains, either, so maybe it's okay. Ah, we'll see... someday.)
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