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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

GETTING UPSET OVER A WASP???

296 replies

Flavourofthemonth123 · 01/01/2019 04:49

So I was over at a friend's house today with our two LO's this afternoon for a lil New Year's celebration (mostly for them, I find new years a bit naff). We were sitting there and all of a sudden a wasp flew at her child (I was mostly shocked to see one in December!) I swatted it down on the floor and stepped on the bastard (it was on the kitchen tiles, so no squishy bug remains mushed into the carpet.) She was a little bit upset that I squashed the wasp in front of her child, saying she doesn't condone killing bugs. I said that a wasp is different from a spider or a snail because they can sting the LO's (I also squash other bugs lol but that's not the point!)

It wasn't a huge deal but I was just surprised at her reaction! Am I alone in thinking that getting upset over a dead wasp is a bit unreasonable? If there was one hoovering around your little one would you hesitate to smoosh him??

OP posts:
Original poster
Flavourofthemonth123 · 01/01/2019 10:34

Exactly @sola82 I think there's a difference between a benign bug walking towards a small child and a wasp that can sting. If it's a choice between a wasp and my child I'll kill the wasp.

I can thankfully say that my friend wasn't nearly as hypersensitive to this as some of the users on here, not least of all by my use of the word "smoosh", which we used at the time Grin

OP posts:
Yabbers · 01/01/2019 10:37

Very cavalier of you to say "smoosh". I can see what kind of person you are right there.

Nonsense. I’d smoosh a wasp. Go on, tell me what kind of person I am. I guarantee you will get it wrong.

planespotting · 01/01/2019 10:38

But OP, that is your choice and her choice is not to kill them in front of DC.

Why should your choice be respected and not hers?

Also, maybe I got it wrong, but wasn't it her child, not yours?

If you were, to your opinion, protecting your child maybe she wouldnt have said a thing, but you weren't.

Why respect our choices but not other people's?

You asked what we would do and we answered.

AromaticSpices · 01/01/2019 10:38

I would have killed it but not while the children were watching.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 01/01/2019 10:43

Personally I wouldn’t have killed it. Inside I lure them with jam or honey on a spoon and pop them outside. I actively discouraged my DCs from reacting to them when they were small and now they ignore them (even DS who WAS stung when he was about 4 after treading on a nest).

Even wasps very rarely sting “for the sake of it”. If you ignore them when they land in you they soon fly off again....

Livingthedream44 · 01/01/2019 10:45

If it was an option between killing the wasp and the wasp stinging a child, I know which option I would go for.

wizzler · 01/01/2019 10:46

v disappointed in this thread. Saw the title and thought Sharron had made a comeback for 2019

mydogisthebest · 01/01/2019 10:48

I don't believe in killing any living creature. I have a bad reaction to wasp stings yet still would not kill one.

I am terrified of spiders so DH puts them out in the garage. It is heated so the spiders will be fine.

I do actually look at the pavements as I walk particularly if it has been raining and is likely to have slugs and snails on it.

If we get a lot of slugs and snails in our garden we collect them up and take them to the local woods.

Before anyone starts, yes both me and DH are vegetarian and have been for over 30 years. We don't wear or use any leather or wool

BertrandRussell · 01/01/2019 10:48

I try very hard not to kill anything. If it’s a choice between being stung and killing then I would probably kill. But otherwise-no. And definitely not a spider or any other inoffensive creature.

PurpleFlower1983 · 01/01/2019 10:51

I’m with your friend on this and wouldn’t have killed it.

Ruffina · 01/01/2019 10:52

I don't believe in killing any living creature.

Rats, mice, fleas, head lice, bed bugs? Colorado Beetle?

How about locusts? In swarms, destroying all before them and bringing famine to entire countries? Do they deserve a shot at life without interference?

Firstworddinosaur · 01/01/2019 10:52

Wasps get ushered back outside, only squashed if they start freaking out and won't leave. I'm afraid mosquitoes and false widow spiders get squashed, if I get them outside they only find a way back in. All other bugs are asked to stay and continue their good work.

StoppinBy · 01/01/2019 10:54

@ginyogarepeat actually vegetarians are very hypocritical - when you consume dairy or eggs there are animals that die because of it.

Just about all bull calves will be slaughtered within days/weeks of life and be sold as veal as they are no use in the dairy industry and almost all second year layer hens will be turned into food. Only the very lucky ones will survive to make it into pet homes.

By supporting these industries you are having a hand in the deaths of animals. If you do have your own livestock, collect all your own eggs while letting all the chickens age naturally and milk your own cow while ensuring the calves that the cow needs to have to keep her in milk go to pet homes then by all means, my apologies.

Lalliella · 01/01/2019 10:54

Only on mumsnet would people be so sensitive about killing a wasp. Ffs. Smoosh the bastard! (Great word btw!) And nobody can tell what sort of person another one is by the use of one word. Oh wait, I forgot the “word” holibobs!

Cannethink · 01/01/2019 10:57

Very comfortable with wasp murdering here too I'm afraid (and flies but nothing else really other than what I eat and wear)...Oh dear, I'll be going to hell!

ragged · 01/01/2019 10:57

I'm fond of wasps & try not to kill them.
How boring is NY day that this thread has almost 150 msgs in it?!
what's worse is I'm reading & posting on this thread

ginyogarepeat · 01/01/2019 10:59

I get your point @StoppinBy but honestly think that's a terrible attitude towards vegetarians. With a bit of support many will eventually seek to cut out dairy too. All effort has to start from somewhere, and some is better than none. I started by cutting out some meats, but still ate fish, then cut out fish, and now over the last year I've started to cut out dairy. I can't say that someone constantly telling me I'm a hypocrite would have helped 🤷‍♀️

crazycatgal · 01/01/2019 11:04

I'd kill it, I always release anything else outside but wasps can fuck off.

We had a nest and one of the fuckers stung my cat in the face and one repeatedly stung me in the top of my foot.

onefootinthegrave · 01/01/2019 11:09

I was asleep on my back and woke up to see something furry crawling into the corner of my mouth, the bastard got in and stung me inside my mouth. Fuck knows how it got out but it did because it then stung me on my knee. My mouth swelled up and was numb and I spent the whole day dribbling.

Since then they have terrified me and yes I will kill them if I can't get away. I'm a vegetarian who kills wasps. If that makes me a hypocrite that's fine by me!

Pieceofpurplesky · 01/01/2019 11:12

If we get a wasps's nest outside I will leave it but I once had one in the eaves of the house and they were everywhere - after getting stung in bed I called the wasp man. All the wasps were dying and I found DS (who was 6 at the time and believing very much in God and heaven) sobbing outside and wondering if their souls got to heaven ...
I try not to kill any but in that instance I had to

Taytojenny · 01/01/2019 11:15

The only thing I'm gettin upset about is the cattyness of some of the people in here! It's a wasp, a little stinging fecker, of course you were right to squish it! I have a strict squish-on-sight policy with wasps, and spiders too I've an awful fear of them.

Now @onwfootinthegrave I sure hope you didn't kill that wasp after it crawled into your mouth and stung you, it's a living creature too and has a right to make a home under your tongue. I'd hate to think the poor thingy ended up "smooshed" ;)

Rainbowoman · 01/01/2019 11:17

What are wasps doing flying about in frocking December?? Mild winter is to blame. OP whenever I have had the displeasure of these things I’ve used the spray because u can’t take the risk of your little ones being hurt.

planespotting · 01/01/2019 11:19

@Rainbowoman Beast of the East coming soon 😫

Jaxhog · 01/01/2019 11:19

Good for you! Better than being stung.

I was stung by a wasp earlier this year, and had forgotten how bloody painful it is. I was in agony for 3 days!

StoppinBy · 01/01/2019 11:19

@gunyogarepeat it's not an attitude to have, it is the cold hard truth. Both the dairy and egg industry cause animals to die.

You asked if your lifestyle/opinion makes you hypocritical, if you didn't want an honest answer then maybe avoid asking for it in the future.

Nothing I said was untrue, just plain fact. Vegetarians don't prevent animals from being killed, they do however reduce the amount of animals that are killed for their purposes.

It is hypocritical for someone to say they are vegetarian for the sake of animals as their lifestyle does contribute to the deaths of animals, no two ways about it.