I’ve always been fearful, for as long as I can remember.
When I was around four years old, my mom took me to a live children’s show, where I was selected to go up on stage and participate. I don’t recall ever raising my hand, but I do remember shaking my head no; my fear keeping me frozen to my seat. Two other kids were chosen, and I’ll never forget when they walked off the stage, their fists full of candy for participating. My stomach dropped when I realized that my fear stood in the way of my getting some candy!
As a mother I have been shocked to see how different my kids are than me. They don’t appear to have a fearful bone in their body, and they certainly don’t get that from me.
This week I took my middle daughter, Georgia, to see Kristen’s Kritters at the Guelph Public Library. We’d never been before, and didn’t know what to expect, but Kristen brought some animals to show off to the group of kids, and because the audience wasn’t too big, each kid had the opportunity to hold or pet the animals.
First of all, I was expecting that Kristen would be bringing some rabbits, maybe a chinchilla or a ferret. To me, a “critter” is a soft and fluffy little creature that you’d like to cuddle up with. What I didn’t expect was the big hairy tarantula that Kristen brought out as the first pet.
Kristen went on to explain that her tarantula had never bitten anyone, but if it did it would feel like a bee sting; as she said this, she shrugged as if it was no big deal. I don’t know about Kristen, but getting a bee sting is on the top of one of my biggest fears, so that wasn’t exactly a comfort.
She started passing around the live tarantula for kids to hold, and I looked over at Georgia and asked her if she’d like to hold it.
“No way! But you have to do it!” she exclaimed.
It wasn’t even an option, apparently. I don’t know what came over me, but I agreed. I would hold the tarantula.
In my mind, I figured if I held the big hairy spider, then maybe it would help Georgia to also overcome her fear. Mostly though, I just wanted to prove to my inner four-year-old that I could overcome my fears.
Eventually the tarantula made its way over to us, and I held it in my hand, and it really wasn’t a big deal. It even started to crawl up my arm, which did freak me out a bit, but I remained calm, while Georgia watched beside me.
After the spider came a ball python, which was actually quite a small. I’ve held ball pythons much larger, and so has Georgia, so we happily pet the python, waiting for the final animal.
The final animal to be shown was a tegu, something I had never seen or heard of. A tegu is a lizard that typically inhabits South America. This giant lizard is quite affectionate, and this particular tegu seemed happy and non-threatening. Apparently though, a tegu bite will crush and break your bones, although we were assured that this tegu had never bitten.
We all had an opportunity to pet the tegu, and then the show was over. Kristen offered at the end to have kids hold the tegu in their lap if they chose. I started to gather my things to leave while my daughter watched other kids line up to hold the giant, bone-crushing lizard.
“I want to hold it,” she said.
“You want to hold the giant lizard? Are you sure?” I was shocked.
But she did. She waited patiently, and she held that tegu for quite an extended period of time, petting him and watching him comfortably on her lap, her hand wrapped under his belly, petting his beady scales with her other hand.
It was a fun and rather surprising afternoon at the library. I ended up facing my fears, but it was my brave four-year-old that I was impressed with most.
When I asked Georgia if my holding the tarantula helped her get the courage to touch the other animals, she replied, “No.”
I’d like to think she isn’t being absolutely honest with that response.
