Why are kids fascinated by bugs? Let's expand that to spiders and such as well as creepy crawlies. Author of THE BIG BOOK OF BUGS tries to entice buyers with the words: "Look right into a spider's eye and get tangled in its web!" and see "larger than life photographs of creepy crawlies." Wow! BUGS GALORE creators Peter Stein and Bob Stark suggest you buy their book to read about bugs that "creep, slither, stink, and squirm, scurry, fly -- ewww, a worm!" (Worms are not really bugs or spiders, but they definitely are creepy crawlies.) They promise that their book will "thrill (and gross out) bug enthusiasts of all ages, offering an in-the-dirt, high-in-the-sky critter tale sure to leave readers wiggling and stampeding for more."
Is it a good thing to insert bugs and creepy crawlies into the lives of kids? I suppose it must be. Speaking of insects alone, there are more insects on earth than there are people. According to "BugInfo" compiled by the Smithsonian Institution, bug experts suggest that there are up to 10 quintillion insects (that's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000) alive on earth at any one time. That's about 200 million insects for each human on earth or about 300 pounds of insect for each pound of humanity. (Thank goodness bugs are relatively small.) And that's not counting spiders, scorpions, worms, centipedes, and other creepies too numerous to count. Without all of these creatures that share the Earth with humans and animals, who or what would pollinate the flowers so that we could have vegetables and fruits to eat? Consider midges (small 1-4mm long flies also known in some places as no-see-ums). It is alleged that midges are very important pollinators of the cacao plant that supplies us with the principal ingredient in chocolate. Yes, bugs and creepy crawlies are functional and fascinating, but only in small doses and at arm's length.
Is it a good thing to insert bugs and creepy crawlies into the lives of kids? I suppose it must be. Speaking of insects alone, there are more insects on earth than there are people. According to "BugInfo" compiled by the Smithsonian Institution, bug experts suggest that there are up to 10 quintillion insects (that's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000) alive on earth at any one time. That's about 200 million insects for each human on earth or about 300 pounds of insect for each pound of humanity. (Thank goodness bugs are relatively small.) And that's not counting spiders, scorpions, worms, centipedes, and other creepies too numerous to count. Without all of these creatures that share the Earth with humans and animals, who or what would pollinate the flowers so that we could have vegetables and fruits to eat? Consider midges (small 1-4mm long flies also known in some places as no-see-ums). It is alleged that midges are very important pollinators of the cacao plant that supplies us with the principal ingredient in chocolate. Yes, bugs and creepy crawlies are functional and fascinating, but only in small doses and at arm's length.
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