I’ve been trying to raise Toddler Harbat as a lover of all things living. This includes little things that scuttle and flutter, blobs that ooze slime as they drag themselves across the sidewalk, and wriggling grubby things in the dirt. I think she’s learning to say “Eeew, bugs!” at school and I’m desperate to cure her of that. “No, he’s a nice bug. Wanna hold him?” Oftentimes it works and she’s more interested in bugs than put off by them.
This weekend we got out TH’s bug house, magnifying glass, and insect-holding tweezers. She joined my wife out in the garden and soon got intrigued by the small world on the surface of the dirt. She found a few potato bugs, called tuh-pay-toe bugs, which she’s happy to have crawl on her hands and roll up into little balls so she can bury them in the dirt. Here she is on the hunt for the smaller creatures of the garden.
I hope she takes after my wife, who is kind and natural with animals. Bugs are as interesting and deserving of life as other creatures, and I hope to raise Toddler Harbat to understand that. Plus, it’s fun to say ‘tuh-pay-toe bugs’.
Writer, architect, father, husband.
I know we didn't color coordinate her clothes, but does she look cute or what? They have been reading about insects at school this week 🙂