How brave are your kids?

[thomashton]

Some kids won't go near bees, spiders, or anything else that crawls, scurrys, or slithers. As a wildlife biologist I find it really disheartening to see so much bio-phobia due to kids growing up in suburbs without outdoor opportunities.

Here are my 2 and 7 year olds. Makes me proud.

[pdmattox]

that's a great picture, here are a couple of mine. I love the fact that I am teaching my kids how to feed themselves.

[the kid]

that looks just like my grand kids ,, there right in the hives,  they put syrup on there fingers then put the fingers in the hive so the bees can get on there finger ,,, then watch them suck up the syrup ...   they call it hand feeding the bees ....   
for some reason I cant post or email pics ....
the kid

[Scadsobees]

that's a great picture, here are a couple of mine. I love the fact that I am teaching my kids how to feed themselves.

Boy, I hope so, he looks like he's at least 7 years old!  Mine could feed themselves by age 3!! :-D

Those are cute, curious kids!  Just wait till you get drones?  Mine have spent hours by the hives catching the drones.  Tie a thread to a drone's leg and you have a remote control helicopter :).

My boys go the other way.  They love spiders, and will have those giant orb-weavers crawling all over their hands, and that gives ME the creeps (I like those spiders, just not that much)!  They don't have any fear of crawlies, and if we ever moved to an environment where there were anything venomous, I might fear for them.

Then again...my 3 year old boy is a wuss!  Everytime a bee lands on him he starts crying, and when it flies off he complains that it stung him....

Rick

[KONASDAD]

Biophobia just stinks. My nephews in new england are afraid of evrything, including dogs, cats hamsters etc. Its so disheartening. They miss out on so much. My brothers kids love animals and such. They love honey, and the hives.

[mgmoore7]

My 7 year old son was brave until he got stung when I was shaking out a hive last year.  He is weary of them now but is getting a little better.  I warned him at the time but he thought that the bees liked him and would not sting him.  When one popped him over the eye and his eye swelled shut, he learned that he was not so invincible.

Right now though, I have a few aggressive hives that are getting requeened with gentle queens tomorrow, so I will feel better about the kids being around after that.

[Jessaboo]

My 4 year old nephew is afraid to go near the hive when we draw his attention to it - ie: want to see inside? Want to watch them working? etc. but he plays within 3 or 4 feet of it without even thinking about it or having any bees buzz him or bother him in general.

I think some of his fear is because he was attacked by wasps at a young age and it is hard to convince a 4 year old of the difference between one thing that flies and has a stinger and another thing that flies and has a stinger. He has a general dislike of bugs that disturbs me but I have been trying to get him to understand how they fit into the bigger picture.

He is however, totally fascinated by the process - we had to go through my Beekeeping for Dummies book several times and he loves loves loves honey and knows the bees are making it just for him ... so I think the fear is surmountable.

Last week he asked me, "Auntie Jess, why do you love bugs so much?"   

I didn't know how to answer that one.

[poka-bee]

It's hard when they ask questions like that!  I would say that I love all Gods creatures, may not LIKE some but love & respect em for what they are.  Also, it's so amazing what bugs can do with no brains like ours!  The bees communicate, make cells, all the neat things they do!  Spiders make webs, the list goes on & on.  Point out that different people like different things, what are his favorite foods /toys/shows?  Do siblings or friends have different favorites?  Isn't it great that we are all different & special?? point out his special talents ;)  If you can, find drones, show him the differences in all the stinging insects, how drones are different. He will soon be able to spot them instantly, train him to make sure before catching but then he can amaze his friends & scare bully's..not that I ever did such a thing but bully boys will run screaming for their mama & they shriek higher than girls.. :roll:   I so love warping the next generations!!!!!
 Jody

[Steve M.]

My 5 year old daughter seems to have no fear when it comes to creepy crawly things. The other day, after coming up from the lake, she nonchalantly stated that she had a leach on her foot.  I told her I would take care of it...she simply said..."oh I already scraped it off". 

My wife, who really has a hard time with snakes was raking the yard and uncovered a small garter snake.  Mattie (my daughter) ran over, excitedly saying, "where, where?", and quickly snatched it up, and brought it over to me to see, and then handed it to my 17 month old son who thought it was a great toy...I ended up having to rescue it and send it on its way.

As for our bees, our hive is about a 1/2 mile away from the house on the edge of our property, so the kids aren't around it much, but when we are around it, they pay it no mind....which will probably will mean trouble with Jonah (my son). his nickname is Mr. Mischief, and he wants to climb anything taller than he is, albeit not too gracefully.

As for teaching our kids where their food comes from, It is amusing at times to hear what comes out of a child's mouth.  I can't remember the specific conversation, but my daughter was listening to we adults talk about organic gardening and raising chickens, etc., when she shakes her head sadly, and said as serious as can be, "It sure is sad that people don't know where food comes from...ours comes from right outside....Nothing beats farm fresh eggs!"

Enjoy your day!

[randydrivesabus]

my sons both grew up in the country and one of them is afraid of bees, wasps, spiders, etc. but he lives & goes to school in Philly so I guess he's brave enough to live in a high crime area. I didn't have bees before my other son grew up (physically that is) and moved out on his own away from here so I don't know how he feels about bees.

[Janemma]

Great pictures!  I have pictures of my children on my bee blog (link below) - some were taken yesterday when they wanted to take the bees some gifts of dandelions....

[utahbeekeeper]

Notice his heavy duty, 2 by 4 framed SBB's  He got them same place I did in town and they are very substantial, just NOT good for migratory beekeeping as they stick out an inch on each side.  I love them however . . . can handle lotta weight

[Flygirl]

My son is pretty great!  The other day when he was helping me in the garden my dh came up & said to him "Wow, you're a worker bee!"  & he responded "No, Daddy, workers are girls & I'm a boy so I'm a drone!"

I love my boy!  :)  FG

[Cindi]

Thom and Dallas, lovely pictures of the children, and lovely pictures in my mind's eye of the other stories of your children.  Children live life with wonderment.  They are always learning, living -- and even those children that don't have a chance or desire to learn of nature are learning other things that are wonderful too.  The children are all beautiful little souls, developing into wonderful adults.  Have the most greatfully awesome day.  Cindi

[mairghead]

Kids are so great!  My three year old has absolutely no fear of our bees.  He wants to help me check the frames and asks everyday to go out and look at the bees.  We have two lawn chairs set up a safe distance where we can sit together and watch them go in and out.  I've had to order him a veil and jacket because I'm so concerned by his lack of fear.

Now, WORMS on the otherhand are a whole different matter!  We were planting elderberries together on tuesday and I found a huge nightcrawler in the dirt and held it up for him to look at.  The poor little guy was completely grossed out and started crying.  He helps me dig holes and water plants every day and you'd think worms wouldn't bother him.  It's funny what will trigger some kids and what won't.

Jackie

[Mici]

i think that 99% bio-phobia is taught! it's parents who effect how a kid will feel about animals, if they always say get away from a snake, fear snakes, avoid snakes, it's normal to be afraid of snakes, i know i am, well, I'm not really but i can see that i fear them only coz i was taught to! it's the same with all other animals.
but, who can blame such education, all in all, it's right to teach kids to avoid unknown and dangerous things, but when kids reach certain age, when they're able to asses different situations, say...6-7? they should be taught not to fear different animals, explained everything about the animals. who wouldn't fear a bee if he saw his mommy swatting and screaming coz of one bee on family picnic?

[Barbara]

Our 14 year old daughter, Kyla, was terrified of bees, and was very upset about the fact that we were going to 'keep' bees . . . until we got them.  Now she has been dubbed official picture taker.  And if she ever manages to get to the hives with a full battery in her camera, we may have some pictures.

Last weekend we had a quilting retreat at our house, with family and friends visiting from the West coast.  It was fun to take them out and show them the hives.  Kyla was right there with us, explaining things to them.

[blckoakbees]

I agree that part of it is the attitude of the adults around kids.  My two youngest girls are adopted and the older one never liked dogs very well.  The younger wanted a dog so we got a puppy.  It turns out my older daughter was attacked by a dog when she was young and nearly died. We found out from an older sibling who is now an adult.

Now, she sleeps with our dog when ever she can and loves dogs because we took the time to show her they are O.K.  There are some neighbor kids whose parents do not like dogs and both kids are scared of dogs to the point of a phobia if a dog is at a soccer game in the park.  The parents tell other people don't let your dog get any where near my child because it upsets them.

I think the same is true with bugs, spiders and snakes.  If they are introduced to them as interesting and helpful, the kids will observe the creatures and enjoy them.  I know my youngest daughter loves to work the bees with me. So I encourage you all to introduce some neighbor kids to how fascinating bees are and looking at them working the hives.

[Cindi]

We were planting elderberries together on tuesday and I found a huge nightcrawler in the dirt and held it up for him to look at.  The poor little guy was completely grossed out and started crying.  He helps me dig holes and water plants every day and you'd think worms wouldn't bother him.  It's funny what will trigger some kids and what won't.
Jackie

Jackie, now that was funnnnneee and brought that smile to my face.  I know, some things kids just are grossed out about.

I will never forget when my oldest Grandson was about 3 (he is 13) I found a big banana slug in the yard.  Now these are big, about 6 inches long, yellow and black and are the ugliest things you have ever seen.  Banana slugs enthrall me and I don't kill them.  They are so majestic (ya, I know that sounds sick, but....) that I take them way down into the bushes and let them go there.  I figure something so beautiful, yucky and majestic deserves to live, just as long they are not living in my garden.

I held this banana slug in my hand it began to move and twist around and he was watching it.  I always show the kids the weird things around here.  This massive slug was twisting, its antennas came out and the slug "face" was facing him.  He was scared half to death, but at the same time memorized!!!  I brought it closer to him, he was still staring at it and began to back up, slowly, not taking his eyes off this monster for a moment.  I moved him slug covered hand to him (remember this is a big slug, picture a banana, about that size) and asked him if he wanted to hold it.  He thought about it.....at least 20 seconds or so.  And then told me that he didn't want to hold that slug today, maybe tomorrow.  Well, I almost fell over laughing, I knew he would never hold this slug, ever, he was just trying to get out of it.  At 3 years of age, he reasoned about how to avoid to hold this beautiful and wonderful banana slug.  Oh those children.....Beautiful and most wonderful day, love our great life we live.  Cindi

[mairghead]

Now I would love to see a banana slug.  I have slugs here, but they are pretty boring and look like dirt. 

I love having my hands in the dirt and can't wait to get home every day to do some gardening.  Kenny has hating being dirty since he was a tiny baby.  We've broken him of most of that now, but since the worm incident I've been playing around with the bugs to see if it was the squirmy or the lack of eyes or what that freaked him out.  Apparently, it's the dirty.  He loves ants, spiders, and of course the bees. 

What made me realize this was he was sitting by his sandbox playing with a bucket of water and his boats.  I realized he was sitting there eating sand and and I thought I better go make sure there was nothing in the sandbox that might hurt him and saw there were two worms in there.  I asked him if he saw them and he said yes.  Those worms didn't bother him, because they weren't in the dirt he said, they were "swimming" in his river he made with the water.

I think there is a lot to the arguement that nurture does impact a child's sensitivity to unusual experiences in their lives, but being a mom has really made me realize that kids are just funny and they come out with their own little unique personalities and anxieties.  Three year olds are a riot though and I'm having a great time exploring the world with him.  It's a neat new perspective.

Jackie