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saintanneshs
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| Posted: July 05 2005 at 11:38pm | IP Logged
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Okay, I'm trying to let the children lead our nature studies but they are going in directions I don't like! A couple of days ago dh found a baby copperhead in our back yard and the boys are now very intrigued by snakes. I, OTOH, hate snakes  ! I read somewhere that we tend to fear/dislike what we aren't familiar with, but I get squeamish just looking through the Extension office's book on snakes in our area. The closest we've come to learning about spiders is reading Charlotte's Web. I have to admit I'm a girly-girl and mud boots are a new thing for me. I like the outdoors and to camp, frogs and lizards I'm okay with (so long as I don't have to touch 'em) and I'm trying to broaden my horizons. But I don't think I can do a snake study.
How do you nature pros handle this? Do I just need to toughen up or is it okay to find the library books and let the children look through them alone?
BTW, today, while at the pool, the 2yo saw a thin, dark something floating near us in the water and yelled, "NAKE!" It was a leaf.
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Kristine
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: July 06 2005 at 7:10am | IP Logged
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Kristine,
When I was in college, one of the requirements of my "how to be a science teacher course" was to handle a snake. The whole idea, of course, was to de-sensitize. I am not desensitized but I did get pretty excited when my kids found a snake and we spent about a half hour watching it in the woods. I think you have to "just do it" and you really need to try not to let your kids see your emotions, lest you pass them on.
Copperheads terrify me. Why don't you start your study with snake identification? I think all kids should know which indigenous snakes are safe and which ones are (run and get daddy!" snakes!
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: July 06 2005 at 7:20am | IP Logged
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saintanneshs wrote:
| BTW, today, while at the pool, the 2yo saw a thin, dark something floating near us in the water and yelled, "NAKE!" It was a leaf. |
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...Well, even when I don't particularly care for the subjects the kids are pursuing, I don't have a problem letting them continue. (Of course, they've never asked to study cockroaches. I have a major issue with these vermin, and might draw the line there...) Can you encourage from a distance? Help them check out books, discuss poisonous snakes and safety, read MacBeth's latest Wild Monthly to them. I don't think that you have to make yourself overly involved in these things. Try to show enthusiasm, but don't feel that you must catch the snakes and spiders for them. Give them bug boxes and nets, and just supervise and give advice. Maybe they'll start small? We found a cute little 8" garter snake in our yard the other day. We put it in our bug box and watched/identified it. Hard to be scared of something so tiny...but then I guess roaches aren't very big either...
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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MacBeth
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| Posted: July 06 2005 at 9:55am | IP Logged
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Warning--graphic description of disgusting things follows!
Snakes don't bother me, but maggots got between me and vet school when I was a teen. I saw ann Old English Sheepdog in the vets office covered in two or three spots with maggots. The vet got out an old tooth brush to scrub the infected areas...I almost lost my lunch. Give me blood and guts anytime, but no maggots, please.
Maggots continued to haunt me. Fruit-fly experiments in college (one can extract their large chromosomes from the salivary glands of the larva), maggot infested carcasses at a wildlife rehab center, a rotting carp at a lakeside homeschool conference--ugh.
Grubs are not much better, and while I will hold many types of larvae, I refuse to hold lawn grubs. I know that this is totally unfounded fear. Butterfly/moth larvae and mealworms are no problem for me...and rationally, I know that there is not much difference.
For the sake of the kids who don't react like I do, I will engage their studies. Paul loves beetles, and constantly finds grubs of different sorts and raises them. I will read books about grubs (ew--wasp grubs are so disgusting) but I control myself. I never, no matter how repulsed, let the kids hear me express disgust. I substitute "how interesting" and try to keep the contents of my stomach contained. Sometimes, the effort is extraordiary !
I hope this is helpful. I know how hard it is to overcome something like this. Interestingly, I was just listening to Perelandra (audible.com now has much of Lewis's published work available--see link in signature), where Ransom's insectophobia, Ransom discovers, finds its source in Satan. With snakes, the connection is more direct. 
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
Nature Study
MacBeth's Blog 
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alicegunther
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| Posted: July 06 2005 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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I remember when my second daughter was four and went through a "Cicada" phase. She would find empty Cicada shells everywhere and collect them, either as jewelry--a Cicada shell will stick to clothes like some sort of hideous brooch--or in little sandwich bags. Like the grubs MacBeth mentioned, I knew intellectually that these shells were harmless, but they were so large and so alarming and so numerous, I couldn't help feeling a cold chill down my spine each time I encountered one of her specimen bags. Luckily, the phase passed, but I am glad I didn't do anything to spoil it for her. She is still very interested in insects, and all my girls will handle just about any insect without any sign of disgust. They are much better than I was at their age!
One rule I always kept to maintain my sanity--no horrible specimen bags in the house!
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: July 06 2005 at 11:25am | IP Logged
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I find it so amusing to see our differences! We've had a couple of recent experiences w/ "grubs" -- We had a rotting possum in our yard, discovered after it had been well picked over, but many maggots remained. They didn't bother me at all, but I wouldn't have wanted to pick them up. A week or two ago we found a large mud dauber's nest among some baskets on our front porch. We broke it open to find every stage from small egg, to grub-like larvae, to full grown wasp that flew out when we cracked open the cell. I found it all very fascinating. Now, put a roach in front of me -- small, medium, or the bird-sized ones found in south Florida, and I'll scream louder than anyone thought possible and climb the walls to get away. Totally irrational!
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Marybeth
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On my 30th birthday my then 2 yr. old ds gave me a big, fat worm from the backyard. I never liked nature and prefer to be indoors. It is amazing what I will do, look at and touch with my ds. I guess being a Mom really does help one overcome certain fears. I agree with Elizabeth about not passing on emotions so many times I just grin and bear it.
Marybeth
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 06 2005 at 1:39pm | IP Logged
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cathhomeschool wrote:
| Now, put a roach in front of me -- small, medium, or the bird-sized ones found in south Florida, and I'll scream louder than anyone thought possible and climb the walls to get away. Totally irrational! |
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The flying cockroaches I grew up with in Houston and little mice running around in my house -- that creates irrational fears in me, also!!! Is there a shudder emoticon???
And grubs and slugs I get the willies, too.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: when you don't like what they're into
