Today, there was a book fair at school. Max took his wallet and bought a Scholastic book called "Spiders", which is VERY informative and interesting. I just read it to him for his bedtime story. Max is crazy about insects and other small creatures, especially since he was bitten by a spider a few years ago. VERY painful bite, but Max was so excited that it was almost a great experience for him. The spider in question was a turquoise beauty, and Max thought it would give him magical powers. It probably did!
In the book Max brought home, there is a small section on camouflage and colouring, explaining that brightly coloured spiders are avoided by predators because their colouring warns of a bad taste.
"So, Max." I said, with the most serious expression I could muster, "You must never, never eat a brightly coloured spider. They taste terrible."
"Mummy! I have NEVER! Eaten a spider!!" cried Max, incredulously. He looked at me as if you say, "You can't be serious."
"That's good" I said. "You never know. Better to avoid them altogether."
Max says that I should certainly not eat spiders AT. ALL. I think that is good advice for all of us.
This website was invented many years ago, when the author kept coming across interesting things in pockets whilst doing laundry. Like small, terrified reptiles. Blogging about raising children in the rainforest, moving them to the UK and watching them leave home one by one to have their own adventures has gradually been replaced by a return to grownup life for their mother, Nan Sheppard, who is an anthropologist, writer and public international law consultant.
5 comments:
Why, they're delicious roasted with Thai sauce. Not.
I used to escort spiders outside until I got bitten by a recluse spider. Now I stomp first, ask questions later. Don't tell Max I'm a murderer.
Tell Max that ladybugs taste terrible, too.
**burp**
xo CGF
ps. Just kidding. The burp part, I mean.
Mum once picked a sprig of parsley and ate it with it's resident stinkbug. Eeeew! And when I was a toddler I ate dozens of millipedes... Kept me quiet and entertained for hours, apparently! But I won't tell Max. Even when something has bitten him, he goes to great lengths to rescue it.
Love that child already, when can I come pick him up?
That book sounds awesome. I don't care for spiders myself, but I try to see their beauty in their colors, their webs, and the way they control other insect populations. Cool that getting bit didn't bother him so much as fascinate him. Your son clearly has a clever and creative mind!
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