It’s summer, the weather’s nice, and it’s hot. You think to yourself, “This is it! Today’s the day I’m going to let this beautiful brain—which has been cut off from fresh, oxygen-rich air for far too long—breathe freely.” You slather sunscreen on your whole family, the ice cubes in your tonic water are dancing with joy, and your flip-flops are the very embodiment of happiness. Your kids head outside, you grab the blanket to lay the baby down in the shade… Then disaster strikes. Your two oldest are crying—no, wait—screaming in panic at the bottom of the stairs. Your instinct tells you to check for injuries, but apparently your instinct is on vacation because no young humans were harmed during the filming of this wild saga.
- Come on, what’s going on?
- There! There! your daughter points, trembling.
You go downstairs and you see… A FLY!
I laugh a little, try to calm the little rascals down, and wave my arms to shoo away any unwelcome guests that might be trying to get close. It’s no use. Total panic. They want to go back inside, and I have to carry them up myself because they’re afraid of the stairs—contaminated by that one and only FLY!
It’s a nightmare—my summer will be ruined from the very start because of a tiny, unwanted winged creature. My spirits are sinking; my energy is “flat,” almost drained, even. My brain is suffocating without that much-coveted fresh air.
Wooooooh! Cut it out, Mom! Pick up your robot pieces and banish your kids’ fear. I think the little bit of fresh air in my brain has sparked a survival idea for the summer. I let the kids calm down, brought out the board games to restore the usual chaos, and get back to normal. But my diabolical plan is in motion.
I made worksheets, printed out diagrams and pictures of insects that are easy to find and recognize. After a quick “Insects 101” lesson, my kids were eager to find out what came next in this stimulating lesson. After a little craft project where they had to choose three insects of their choice, I opened the door and told them they now had to go on an adventure to find the insects for their crafts.
Shouts of joy. Leaps like agile gazelles. Mom’s mischievous, stifled laughter. My butt in the grass, my tonic sparkling with bubbles, summer is in full swing… and the flies are gone!