The way that you, as an adult, react to creatures has a massive impact on young people watching you.
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Another not totally obvious thing I've learned when teaching young people (and some adults...) about insects is that when you show them a photo of an insect it helps to point out "this is her head, her eyes are right here, she is eating nectar in this photo"
Sometimes people who don't look at bugs often don't understand which end is which. I've gotten the reaction "oooh! she's cute" after explaining this so often that I'm convinced it's important.
Otherwise it's just a jumble of legs!
@futurebird i'm yet again reminded of 2 things:
1. a tumblr post i can no longer find where bogleech described cockroaches as "deerlike"
2. this bit from That Hideous Strength, which frankly i found far more valuable wrt small animals than the human relations it's "supposed" to be about:
> And Jane sat still till the room became filled with silence like a solid thing and there was first a scratching and then a rustling and presently she saw three plump mice working their passage across what was to them the thick undergrowth of the carpet, nosing this way and that so that if their course had been drawn it would have resembled that of a winding river, until they were so close that she could see the twinkling of their eyes and even the palpitation of their noses. In spite of what she had said she did not really care for mice in the neighbourhood of her feet and it was with an effort that she sat still. Thanks to this effort she saw mice for the first time as they really are--not as creeping things but as dainty quadrupeds, almost, when they sat up, like tiny kangaroos, with sensitive kid-gloved forepaws and transparent ears. With quick, inaudible movements they ranged to and fro till not a crumb was left on the floor. Then he blew a second time on his whistle and with a sudden whisk of tails all three of them were racing for home and in a few seconds had disappeared behind the coal box. -
Another not totally obvious thing I've learned when teaching young people (and some adults...) about insects is that when you show them a photo of an insect it helps to point out "this is her head, her eyes are right here, she is eating nectar in this photo"
Sometimes people who don't look at bugs often don't understand which end is which. I've gotten the reaction "oooh! she's cute" after explaining this so often that I'm convinced it's important.
Otherwise it's just a jumble of legs!
@futurebird I have a modest proposal
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The way that you, as an adult, react to creatures has a massive impact on young people watching you.
If you scream when you see a bee, they will scream too. After all you have survived in this world much longer than they have and you are scared, so they need to be scared too.
Even if you are scared you can model better reactions. And it works really well.
@futurebird
Many years ago when my daughter and her friend were five, they watched me turning our compost and were awestruck by the life exposed in the pile. The friend’s mother came by to take her daughter to the mall. She exclaimed but “Mr. Wilson is turning the compost.”
The mother convinced the girl to shop and as you predicted she is now more interested in shopping than nature. -
@futurebird I have a modest proposal
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@futurebird I am often surprised how little time most kids spend looking at an insect shown to them, but as soon as you give it another name than "bug" or "beetle" and point out to them for example that it is a longhorn beetle and you can see on the antennas why it is called this, they get exited. The best comes later (minutes, days) when you can overhear the child teaching other kids that this is a longhorn beetle and why
.
Kids want to learn and they have a right to know
@jakobtougaard @futurebird same with trees. Or lots of things in fact! If you are interested in the details the kids will be too.
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Another not totally obvious thing I've learned when teaching young people (and some adults...) about insects is that when you show them a photo of an insect it helps to point out "this is her head, her eyes are right here, she is eating nectar in this photo"
Sometimes people who don't look at bugs often don't understand which end is which. I've gotten the reaction "oooh! she's cute" after explaining this so often that I'm convinced it's important.
Otherwise it's just a jumble of legs!
@futurebird@sauropods.win right it's interesting I grew up with Cricket Magazine and The Magic Schoolbus and Clan Apis so I was pretty used to perceiving insects as like, animal characters, and sometimes I gotta remember that other people did not
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@futurebird I have a modest proposal
@WesternInfidels @futurebird HaHaHaHaHa!!
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The way that you, as an adult, react to creatures has a massive impact on young people watching you.
If you scream when you see a bee, they will scream too. After all you have survived in this world much longer than they have and you are scared, so they need to be scared too.
Even if you are scared you can model better reactions. And it works really well.
@futurebird "See the round pupils? Definitely not a pit viper." (Puts it down gently, flails hands, makes face.) "They do kind poo on ya though."
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@futurebird i'm yet again reminded of 2 things:
1. a tumblr post i can no longer find where bogleech described cockroaches as "deerlike"
2. this bit from That Hideous Strength, which frankly i found far more valuable wrt small animals than the human relations it's "supposed" to be about:
> And Jane sat still till the room became filled with silence like a solid thing and there was first a scratching and then a rustling and presently she saw three plump mice working their passage across what was to them the thick undergrowth of the carpet, nosing this way and that so that if their course had been drawn it would have resembled that of a winding river, until they were so close that she could see the twinkling of their eyes and even the palpitation of their noses. In spite of what she had said she did not really care for mice in the neighbourhood of her feet and it was with an effort that she sat still. Thanks to this effort she saw mice for the first time as they really are--not as creeping things but as dainty quadrupeds, almost, when they sat up, like tiny kangaroos, with sensitive kid-gloved forepaws and transparent ears. With quick, inaudible movements they ranged to and fro till not a crumb was left on the floor. Then he blew a second time on his whistle and with a sudden whisk of tails all three of them were racing for home and in a few seconds had disappeared behind the coal box."a tumblr post i can no longer find where bogleech described cockroaches as "deerlike"
Yeah that tracts. They are harmless, hapless, easily startled.
But also if there is nothing eating them or conditions they like too much? You can end up with too many and it's a problem.
They can't bite, can't sting, can't do anything but run or fly in front of you causing a massive accident.
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The way that you, as an adult, react to creatures has a massive impact on young people watching you.
If you scream when you see a bee, they will scream too. After all you have survived in this world much longer than they have and you are scared, so they need to be scared too.
Even if you are scared you can model better reactions. And it works really well.
its godawful hard tho.
I tried with all of my kids but only succeeded with my youngest and only with things that arent roaches.
Im 90% sure the roach phobia I have has to do with some traumatic child incidents and learned fear from observing parents.
Also heavily agree about the giving kids facts or info about the things makes them less spooky.
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@jakobtougaard @futurebird same with trees. Or lots of things in fact! If you are interested in the details the kids will be too.
@londondreamtime @futurebird exactly. My father, who is also a marine biologist, got me interested in #polychaete worms from an early age. We had to invent our own names, as they had only Latin names. My favourites were the green rubber band worm and the red rubber band worm
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Another not totally obvious thing I've learned when teaching young people (and some adults...) about insects is that when you show them a photo of an insect it helps to point out "this is her head, her eyes are right here, she is eating nectar in this photo"
Sometimes people who don't look at bugs often don't understand which end is which. I've gotten the reaction "oooh! she's cute" after explaining this so often that I'm convinced it's important.
Otherwise it's just a jumble of legs!
@futurebird 1/2
when I took Human Computer Interaction in college, our professor spent an entire section, with several research papers as assigned reading on how important it is to explain to new users of an interface what things are, where they are expected to look for what, and so forth, even if it seems obvious. -
@futurebird 1/2
when I took Human Computer Interaction in college, our professor spent an entire section, with several research papers as assigned reading on how important it is to explain to new users of an interface what things are, where they are expected to look for what, and so forth, even if it seems obvious.@futurebird 2/2
There was even a paper on the Dorling Kindersley educational books for children, then infamous for having "swarms of pointless obvious labels everywhere", which showed that, actually, the labels on seemingly obvious things WERE helpful, not just for children, but for college age adults and working professionals. -
@londondreamtime @futurebird exactly. My father, who is also a marine biologist, got me interested in #polychaete worms from an early age. We had to invent our own names, as they had only Latin names. My favourites were the green rubber band worm and the red rubber band worm
@jakobtougaard @futurebird I love that!!
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The way that you, as an adult, react to creatures has a massive impact on young people watching you.
If you scream when you see a bee, they will scream too. After all you have survived in this world much longer than they have and you are scared, so they need to be scared too.
Even if you are scared you can model better reactions. And it works really well.
@futurebird Yes, this was a bit surprising for me to learn not too long ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4lxusff1c
"Babies, even when they're very young are very, very good at watching the eyes and the emotional expression of their caregivers.
And so if something new or weird or different occurs the child will often check in with their caregiver's face to go: "Is this something I need to worry about or not?""
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Bees and wasps will be attracted to people with some perfumes on. So if a kid tells you a bee is chasing them, it might be true.
If you are taking your urban kids to some place with... creatures ... remind them not to wear perfumes or flowery soaps if they can help it.
If a bee or wasp starts doing this it's best to stay still. She will realize there isn't a flower and leave but if she get swatted at she may get scared and then you have a problem.
@futurebird Also, in my experience, some people's sweat is more attractive to certain flying creatures than other people's. My family know that I will be the least attractive to any bee, wasp, gnat in the vicinity. It is always good to model the best behaviour for the desired outcome when you're an adult - unfortunately, many adults haven't learnt this, or have poor responses from what they learned from their parents, and have left them unfettered. Panic or worry is infectious.
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Another not totally obvious thing I've learned when teaching young people (and some adults...) about insects is that when you show them a photo of an insect it helps to point out "this is her head, her eyes are right here, she is eating nectar in this photo"
Sometimes people who don't look at bugs often don't understand which end is which. I've gotten the reaction "oooh! she's cute" after explaining this so often that I'm convinced it's important.
Otherwise it's just a jumble of legs!
@futurebird The one thing I've learned in my years of taking photos of insects and spiders is also to communicate to others who might be open to it but aren't sure yet, what you like about this little bug you're giving your attention to. In one iNat photo meeting we had someone with us who was interested in plants and birds while everyone else was looking for insects together and he just asked us questions like why that seemingly boring stinkbug is cool and actually considered that maybe we are onto something. If you're telling a cool bug fact to a kid - that's a new fan of that extremely cool bug.
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@futurebird Also, in my experience, some people's sweat is more attractive to certain flying creatures than other people's. My family know that I will be the least attractive to any bee, wasp, gnat in the vicinity. It is always good to model the best behaviour for the desired outcome when you're an adult - unfortunately, many adults haven't learnt this, or have poor responses from what they learned from their parents, and have left them unfettered. Panic or worry is infectious.
In the 90s, I 'briefly' lived with a young woman who had two cats, and her lounge carpet was ALIVE with cat-fleas. I did comment about it to her, and her take was "well, they don't ever bite ME! It must be YOU!"
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@futurebird The one thing I've learned in my years of taking photos of insects and spiders is also to communicate to others who might be open to it but aren't sure yet, what you like about this little bug you're giving your attention to. In one iNat photo meeting we had someone with us who was interested in plants and birds while everyone else was looking for insects together and he just asked us questions like why that seemingly boring stinkbug is cool and actually considered that maybe we are onto something. If you're telling a cool bug fact to a kid - that's a new fan of that extremely cool bug.
@futurebird But also - If you're telling a terrifying fact to a kid ... just don't go for "bites its victims in the head to liquify their insides" unless that kid is really into monsters. Might be a cool fact but maybe "Builds its net every morning with everything in mind that happened the day before so the net becomes stronger and more adapted to the surroundings every single day" might be more appropriate.
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The way that you, as an adult, react to creatures has a massive impact on young people watching you.
If you scream when you see a bee, they will scream too. After all you have survived in this world much longer than they have and you are scared, so they need to be scared too.
Even if you are scared you can model better reactions. And it works really well.
@futurebird last summer I had some wasps buzzing around while I was eating a blizzard outside a Dairy Queen, and when people started flapping their hands and standing up, I showed them that you can just tap a little scoop out on the far end of the table and they’ll all go over there and leave you, um, be.
People looking at me like a Martian when I said, these guys are out here trying to make a buck just like the rest of us, make it easy for them and they’ll mind their own business.
