[tinyblackdot]

So reading another post, it shocked me how so many people seemed to be scared, or very intimidated of nature. And then it got me thinking about some of the other posts, and how my initial fear as a parent are germs. But DH and i where watching a commercial yesterday about a vacuum that killed 99% of "germs" in your carpet....and i started thinking about why everyone is so scared to death of germs.

It seems to me that more and more we are teaching our children to be scared of nature, that its dirty and scary and it could/would hurt you. That its made TO hurt you, and to stay away from it. Unless of course its on a playground and then its perfectly safe :yuck j/k.

What about mamas that dont vax? I would think that here, people would embrace germs more than on the "outside". Knowing that germs are not bad, and they play a role in our health (good and bad) and are necessary. If your children are unvaxed are you constantly worried about germs, or do you embrace them and let them work the way mother nature intended? I guess thats another thread entirely.......

So what kind of parent are you? Do you let your LOs get dirty and play in the mud, catch bugs, even lizards and snakes? Go camping and teach your children about nature, and believes in the 5 second rule.....or are you the kind that prefers that you child not play with dirt, and certainly not with strange animals, or bugs....and thinks camping is staying in a cabin with A/C and beds and refrigerator.

Thoughts?

 

[Storm Bride]

I love camping, and wish we could do more of it. Camping vacations are my best memories of a happy childhood...followed closely by "helping" mom garden and checking out the slugs, snails, etc. in the yard.

I don't get my kids outside enough. Over my years as a WOHM, with a very unsupportive partner, I didn't have much time for being outdoors (except walking to/from work, mostly downtown), so I did lose some of my comfort outside.

That said, I love that the kids play with dirt and bugs and stuff. I"m not crazy about ds2's habit of eating a leaf off every bush or tree he sees, or his recent decision that bug=protein, so they make good snacks. I don't generally get too freaked out about that stuff, but it does kind of make me ill. I'm also arachnophobic, so dd's fascination with spiders is hard to take - but I think it's great...just hard for me, personally.

Germs don't worry me much. I actually kind of think we're overdue for a plague/illness induced population purge, but I don't think living my day to day life in an "OMG - germs!" mindset is going to prevent that, yk? I see colds, flus, fevers and childhood illnesses (measles, mumps, chickenpox, etc.) as just part of life...and would much rather my children were exposed to them young.

 

[Liquesce]

My grandmother used to talk about how she forced herself to not show the fear she felt, of bugs in particular, in front of her children because she didn't want them to grow up with irrational fears like herself. So when they would come running up to her carrying a caterpillar or a spider or whatever to give her she would just thank them and admire it and graciously set it free.

I admire my grandmother. And her kids did grow up without her fears, and mostly they passed that on to their kids (with the exception of me and my thing about spiders

. Some of my own best memories are of going out with her and catching spring peepers and such ... I definitely want to parent like her, spiders and all. I can't wait until my kids are old enough for it to be a little easier to safely go down to the creek and watch for garter snakes.

Partly because it's the kind of thing I loved to do by myself before I had kids.

 

[snoopy5386]

I HATE bugs and I am terrified of them. Completely terrified. i freak out when bugs fly near me or if any bugs land/crawl on me. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts at hiding this, I seem to have passed it on to DD. Otherwise I love nature. We don't camp (I want a bed to sleep in at night), but I love to be outside when the weather is nice. Germs and dirt don't bother me and it wouldn't bother me if my DD picked up a frog or lizard (snakes not so much, I'd be worried about it biting her).

 

[Storm Bride]

Your grandma's awesome. I try to do that, but I just can't manage it. I do tell dd (truthfully) that I have no idea why I'm afraid of spiders, and I'm glad she isn't. (I wasn't as a child, either - hit sometime in my late teens.) I even let the "pet" spider that set up a web in our living room window stay...and avoided that corner/window for several months.

ETA: There are other bugs that freak me out a bit, but not the way spiders do. That said...I'm oddly not bothered at all by bees, wasps, etc. The only one that ever even fazed me was the wasp that crawled out of my soda can, as I was putting it up t my lips.

 

[tinyblackdot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Storm Bride I love camping, and wish we could do more of it. Camping vacations are my best memories of a happy childhood...followed closely by "helping" mom garden and checking out the slugs, snails, etc. in the yard. I don't get my kids outside enough. Over my years as a WOHM, with a very unsupportive partner, I didn't have much time for being outdoors (except walking to/from work, mostly downtown), so I did lose some of my comfort outside. That said, I love that the kids play with dirt and bugs and stuff. I"m not crazy about ds2's habit of eating a leaf off every bush or tree he sees, or his recent decision that bug=protein, so they make good snacks. I don't generally get too freaked out about that stuff, but it does kind of make me ill. I'm also arachnophobic, so dd's fascination with spiders is hard to take - but I think it's great...just hard for me, personally. Germs don't worry me much. I actually kind of think we're overdue for a plague/illness induced population purge, but I don't think living my day to day life in an "OMG - germs!" mindset is going to prevent that, yk? I see colds, flus, fevers and childhood illnesses (measles, mumps, chickenpox, etc.) as just part of life...and would much rather my children were exposed to them young.

I totally know what you mean! I work part time nights, and i tend to not get out as much asi would like either.

But yes i have found that i have lost that comfort as well, i am scared to walk in grass because there might be a snake! I wouldn't let dd get her pics taken in the bluebonnets because of snakes! LOL! OMG i sound crazy, but i guess i am. I am letting my irrational fears dictate how i lead my life and what i am comfortable exposing my child to (and im of the mindset that i want my child exposed to just about everything that she can be).

I was wondering the other day, when i became so scared of everything? What happened?

 

[katiesk]

yikes, i think i should probably be a bit more cautious about germs. my baby, who is one, loves eating handfuls of dirt from the garden and sand from the beach. i would not ordinarily think much of it, but right now there is volcanic ash on everything, and i think it's a bit abrasive...

dd also loves dogs. any dogs. she especially loves when new dogs race up to her and lick her face.

i think she is going to adore camping this summer.

germs don't freak me out, really and yes, we do embrace nature. perhaps a bit too closely at times! (when i get into bed and it is full of sand...)

 

[cappuccinosmom]

I embrace it.

:

For me there's not an "ick factor" so much as an "Oh dear, I'm going to have to clean this (or the kids) up!" Them playing in the mud doesn't bother me at all. The thought of them coming into my house covered in mud gets to me though.

I would love to take them camping and have us all get sweaty and bug bitten and smelling like woodsmoke.

I'm sure my childhood has something to do with this. We always swam in huge old ponds, ran barefoot in the mud, went backpacking and camping in the mountains, and did a whole lot of earthy stuff (bird-watching, butterfly collecting, caterpillar hunting, worm digging for fishing, etc).

 

[Liquesce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Storm Bride I even let the "pet" spider that set up a web in our living room window stay...and avoided that corner/window for several months.

We get these jumping spiders that will take flying leaps at people for no apparent reason. I'm usually happy to let spiders in my house be, but those ...

: I'm working on just calmly and casually asking my husband to put them outside, as opposed to my inclination to go cowering on the opposite side of the room until he does.

 

[paquerette]

I think mostly I embrace nature. I'm still getting used to it after a childhood of disliking playing outdoors. I definitely want us to be an outdoorsy family, and DH being an avid outdoorsman helps.

Have you read Last Child in the Woods? Awesome, awesome book.

:

 

[momtokea]

We embrace nature here. I have never been afraid of germs. (That doesn't mean we never wash our hands

).
We camp regularly all summer, and we own property in the country where we play in the mud, catch frogs, go pond dipping, etc. I recently did a blog post about it. The things I'm most afraid of out there are bears and cougars, but there really isn't too many of them.

 

[Storm Bride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cappuccinosmom For me there's not an "ick factor" so much as an "Oh dear, I'm going to have to clean this (or the kids) up!" Them playing in the mud doesn't bother me at all. The thought of them coming into my house covered in mud gets to me though.

:
It's not "nature", exactly, but we go to a tourist farm down the road about once a week. Today, ds2 stepped in the clean water dish for the goats, then proceeded to coat his wet feet in dirty sawdust from the rabbit cage. I wasn't concerned about it...but I wasn't happy about having to clean it up, either!!

Oh - and I never worm-fished. Well, I did, but I never put the worm on - too squeamish. My dad, mom or sister did it for me.

 

[tinyblackdot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Storm Bride : It's not "nature", exactly, but we go to a tourist farm down the road about once a week. Today, ds2 stepped in the clean water dish for the goats, then proceeded to coat his wet feet in dirty sawdust from the rabbit cage. I wasn't concerned about it...but I wasn't happy about having to clean it up, either!! Oh - and I never worm-fished. Well, I did, but I never put the worm on - too squeamish. My dad, mom or sister did it for me.

Oh i absolutely LOVE fishing! Its seriously my fav pastime!

 

[Storm Bride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liquesce We get these jumping spiders that will take flying leaps at people for no apparent reason. I'm usually happy to let spiders in my house be, but those ... :

I don't think we have those around here. They sound insanely freaky.

The only really bad time I've had with spiders in the last few years was when we had the "paratroopers" I was getting my coffee scoop one morning and almost walked right into a spider on a web line. That wasn't cool. It scrambled back up, and crawled around on my ceiling, randomly dropping every few minutes in different places. Okay - that ended...the next morning, I was walking over to put a DVD in the player in my living room...and it happened again. I was almost afraid to come downstairs for the next few days.

And...same thing years ago, when one almost landed on my stomach during a private moment with my ex. He was somewhat offended when I suddenly lunged sideways off the bed.

 

[verde]

DH and I both love nature and being outdoors. We live in the country and love camping. My DD isn't afraid of the outdoors at all.

My biggest concern right now is ticks -- specifically the little ones that cause Lymes disease. I'm not "afraid" of the ticks themselves but I do fear the Lymes they can pass on to other people. We live in a high Lymes area with loads of deer so I think my concern is reasonable.

 

[Storm Bride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinyblackdot Oh i absolutely LOVE fishing! Its seriously my fav pastime!

I didn't like it much.

My dad caught fish.
My mom caught fish.
My sister caught fish.
My brother won a few prizes (never first place) in salmon derbies.

I once caught a sea cucumber when fishing from a rowboat...ick. My whole family noticed it - I seemed to have really bad luck with a fishing rod.

 

[Storm Bride]

I'll also admit that when I'm camping, I'm more nervous at night than I used to be. The places where I camp have cougars and bears, including grizzlies. I know there aren't that many of them, but...the thought freaks me out. The cougars especially scare me, because I have little kids.

Now that the weather is finally changing, I'm hoping we can fit in one good family hike, before I'm too far pregnant to handle it. I'm losing most of hiking season to being late in pregnancy and then recovering from a c-section. Grrr..

 

[limabean]

Well, there's a time and a place, IMO. I like my house to be clean (especially with a crawling baby), and I admit to policing shoe removal at home to avoid tracking in dirt, leaves, etc., but we love camping, hiking, and catching frogs/lizards/snakes too.

Of course, I'm one of those campers who shakes out the sleeping bags and sweeps out the tent every evening to make sure there are no creepy crawlies in there while we're sleeping, but I'm fine with the kids digging in the dirt nearby while I do it!

I've been like that since I was a kid -- I was the girl in braids and a frilly dress with dirt on my knees and a beetle in my hand.

 

[tinyblackdot]

hm...i didnt really catch much. I just like sitting at the docks with my legs over the edge watching the spiders make their webs all alone...just me the fish and the water.

Man, i totally need to start doing that again. Except i do find it really cruel sometimes.....and since i was vegetarian for 5 years i couldnt exactly go fishing lol!

 

[MayBaby2007]

We embrace nature here. But dd, on her own, has decided she's afraid of bugs and stuff.

Last fall, when we planted mums, a big Wooley worm came with one of the plants. It was crawling on the sidewalk. I carefully let her pet it (didn't want her to squish it). She was amuzed and loved it.

Also last fall, after the wooley worm incident, there was a swarm of lady bugs on our tree. I took her over to show them. I picked them up and let them crawl on my arm. She seemed fascinated, so I put one on her hand. When it crawled up her arm she freaked out. Since then, she's terrified of bugs. (The swarm of ladybugs also invades my house every fall but I co-exsist with them fine. They're harmless--they hibernate mostly and they leave in the spring. So, if there was a warm day during winter and they woke, dd would find one and come running to me, "Bug, mommy! Bug!" And then she does this gag-like-thing (the same thing she does at the sight of any vegetable

).

Last weekend we were out planting flowers. (She's afraid of dirt but is getting better). I saw a worm and pointed it out to her, "Look, DD, a worm!" She cautiously looks. I picked it up and it was wiggling all over the place. She cried out, "No, mommy! Noooooooo! Nooooo!" and ran away.

In reference to dirt, if dirt gets *on* her, she freaks out. But she helped shovel dirt into a planter with no problems. We're making progress, I think.

She likes bunnies and birds and squirrels though. *shrugs*

I don't handle spiders, snakes or most other bugs well. (I can handle ladybugs and lightening bugs). I'm almost positive I will rub this off onto dd, though I will try not to. Over the weekend, a garter snake terrorized me. Once while cutting grass. Another while planting--I thought his tail was a twig. I'm still recovering from that

: And someone thought it was funny to put a real-looking snake in my bathroom after that. Oh...real cute. His day will come.