My daughter is such a Girl. Not just a girl, but a Girl with a capital G.
Keith, Autumn and I went out to visit Keith's parents this weekend. On Saturday afternoon we decided to take a walk at a nearby park, even though it was sprinkling. The little paved trail wound around a wooded area, so there were leaves, black chestnuts and other miscellaneous things scattered among the path.
When we first started going, Keith's Dad spotted a woolly bear. For some reason, I have a soft spot in my heart for those little black and brown caterpillars. I don't know why, because bugs and other things of the sort -- basically, anything with more than 4 legs and anything with four legs that's smaller than a rabbit -- creep me out.
I touched the woolly bear, but he didn't curl up in a ball. I kept touching and nothing happened. We decided he was dead and moved on. But, lucky for us, after a while longer on the trail, we spotted a white caterpillar inching his way along. I picked up the leaf he was on and showed him to Autumn. She fussed.
We went along the trail some more. I found a nice, long worm. I picked it up and showed it to her. No desire on her part to touch it. So we walked some more. And then Keith spotted a little woolly bear crawling across the trail. I touched it and he curled up into a ball. I picked him up and he laid in my hand. I kept touching him (because then he'd stay in a ball instead of crawling across my hand). Autumn fussed. I kept petting. She looked disgusted. A few times, she reached out with her little index finger and came oh so close, but never did she actually touch him. Instead she looked at me like I was crazy.
Then Keith put the rolled-up woolly bear on her arm and she cried. I told him she's never going to touch one again beause of that. Maybe that will be true, maybe not, but we'll see. I'm a believer in waiting till the kid is ready to touch the critter, not making the critter touch the kid.
I just don't get it because I thought at this age there wasn't a fear of these things. I thought fear was learned. My niece and nephew love snakes, frogs, toads, salamanders and anything of the sort. Nothing scares them, because my brother has been picking those things up and handing them to the kids since before they were Autumn's age.
Who knows though... maybe it's not that fear is inborn instead of learned. Maybe I'm just raising a girlie-girl.