“One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature for these may have a valuable lesson to teach us, and even the smallest ant may wish to communicate to a man.” –Black Elk, Lakota
What might it mean for the world when a child develops
a relationship with a bug?
"In the beginning of the year my mind was saying eeew! Gross! Aaaahhh! And now I say in my mind, wow, that’s cool! Oh, look at that! And I even say it out loud now. If we keep learning about bugs then our minds would think better and better thoughts about bugs. I say often, put yourself in the bug’s shoes. Not like bugs have shoes – what I meant was, put yourself in the bugs soul. So you can see how bugs aren’t so scary because bugs can help by using something like a rotten log or a petal of a flower instead of not using it." Student, 8 years old
"Am I crazy about bugs! Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! My millipede is really a good gardner. I used to think they were lazy and not that important. I can imagine myself doing that – eating dirt and pooping it out and making garden stuff. They fight off the bad with their smell so bad things can’t attack the plants. I never knew they had a stinky smell." Student, 8 years old
"I don't think I've ever has a relationship with a beetle like this before. He's like a real friend, like I can spend time with him. I used to be scared of beetles." Student, 9 years old
"Before I thought bugs were creepy, weird and pests and I thought ‘What?” about everything. Now I think they are cool and wise and now I know a lot about them. When I say wise, I mean that they are smart, we can learn a lot from them." Student, 8 years old
"I always thought bugs were just there, living but pretty much I only really saw bees, wasps, mosquitos and flies as bad and bees, butterflies and moths and the others they were just there but now I see that they're the same thing as us – it’s their world too. Even the weirdest larvae and most annoying bug have a part in this world." Student 9 years old
"Right when we got our beetles I would stay away from them. It would be hard for me to come towards them, but when snoopy hatched I could not stop holding him and watching him crawl up and down my hand." Student, 8 years old
