Yesterday morning the girls got up and by the time I saw them in the hallway, they were both upset about a spider in their room. Abigail had a tissue in her hand and wanted me to use it to capture and crush the arachnid. It’s true: I have in the past functioned as the household exterminator, killing insects inside Kleenex and tossing them into the trash. But I’ve seen the error of my ways.
So I explained to the girls how spiders eat flies and help us. I told them that we didn’t need to kill spiders all the time: we could let them live. I went and took a shower, and noticed a spider crawling around among my shampoo bottles.
Back in the girls’ bedroom, I saw that Abigail and Michaela had tidied up their toy box and closed the lid. When I asked why, they said that they wanted to give the spider more room. And I saw the Kleenex lying on the floor: now converted into a bed for the spider to enjoy.
1 response so far ↓
1 paul // Mar 26, 2004 at 8:21 am
we have a small spice jar we use to capture and release spiders: we’ve “rescued” a hundred or more, I expect.