GETTING UPSET OVER A WASP???

[Flavourofthemonth123]

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??

“That excellent question - and your equally good further observations - will never be answered on here.”

I answered it about 10 minutes before you posted!

You answered...ish.

Where do you stand on mice? Rats? Grammar school educated moles?

I never understand this hysteria about wasps – just chill out and they will go away. Your friend obviously thought YWBU, hence her reaction. I’m terrified of spiders but knowing what I know now, would never kill one.

I hate killing wasps as they are pollinators and part of the ecosystem. There has been a huge decline in insects over the last few years and while this may not seem to affect us, the decline and eradication of whole species has a devastating knock on effect for all of us.

As for the poster who wrote; `I live in a city and there are no crops so we don’t need wasps’, words fail me. There are so many gardens in London, which provide nourishment for many birds and wildlife (there are even bee hives on the roof of Fortnum and Mason). Some people won’t be happy until the only species left on the planet is the human one.

As for describing your kids as LO’s’, using phrases like lil’ and your febrile enthusiasm for `smooshing’ bugs, YABVVVU. Just ugh.

“Where do you stand on mice? Rats? ”
If they can do me harm and are likely to do me harm, which usually means they are in the “wrong place” then if necessary I, or my cats or my terrier will kill them. I see no reason to kill anything that is not a threat to me.

@mydogisthebest Have you not heard of Hantavirus? I wouldn't kill mice, but they carry diseases that I do not want to come into contact with so they are not harmless.

Hmmm.

‘Threat’ is a bit loose. I think you’re saying that you are happy to kill pests. As all sensible folk are. In most people’s book that includes invasive rodents, wasps and other unwelcome insects.

@Sadsibling I don't think she was enthusiastic about squishing the wasp, she just didn't hesitate in stepping on a pest that might've hurt a child in her company.

As for the use of the word "smooshing", what word would you have preferred she used? "Compressing"?

Some people make so much fuss about wasbs and bees, especially in front of children giving them a life long irrational fear of them.
I have found the odd wasb or bee in the house looking very weak especially when the weather gets cooler, we give them a solution of sugar and water to revive them, then let them out of the house.
Take precautions if outside eating especially drinking by covering drink containers, you would not want to swallow a bee or wasp accidentally whilst drinking.
Do not swat at them if they come near, they are not hunting for humans, but they will get angry if you are lashing out at them.

@pineapplepenthouse it maybe "just" a wasp to you, but it's also a pollinator and we are running out of them, as the massive publicity about bees is highlighting at the moment. I don't kill insects/arachnids or anything else that may have drifted into my vicinity. We are not the only, or by any stretch of the imagination, the most important creatures on this planet. I go out of my way, and I teach DS to do the same, to help animals so that the world may be a slightly more pleasant place to exist. until we destroy the planet with greenhouse gases

I do not kill anything that isn’t directly threatening me. So I would never kill a spider in this country. I would never kill a wasp or a bee unless there was no alternative. I’d only kill a mouse or a rat if they were actually in my house and I couldn’t get rid of it any other way. So no, I wouldn’t automatically kill pests.

It's the not-giving-a-shit kind of casual wasp/spider killing I don't like.

Very nasty trait to have.

GummyGoddess, no I hadn't heard of that but it won't make any difference. If we ever get mice in the house again we would just try using a humane trap again. Neither me nor DH would be able to put down poison as we think it cruel.

It's sad that so many people have so little respect for life. Oh it's only a fly/spider/ant/wasp etc. Horrible attitude to have.

Very nasty trait to have.

I just don’t see that. It’s a wasp, not a higher primate. It has no emotions. It cannot feel pain. The ecological damage is nil.

You might as well be applying Hedrin.

Killing a wasp attracts more, something in the pheromones it releases as it dies.

I would never kill a wasp. Better just to move away anyway. Obvs in order to live we do sometimes kill eg bed bugs, cockroaches, etc. I don’t kill things when there is no need. The upset was probably also because from your description you seem to have acted quickly and decisively (have an image of you as some kind of Kung fu fighter!) so no doubt they also got a bit of a shock ?!

Killing a wasp attracts more, something in the pheromones it releases as it dies.

Only if others are very near. Like if you attack a nest. Otherwise it’s not an effect.

Anyone happy to leave head lice to their own devices?

Anyone happy to leave head lice to their own devices?

Won’t somebody think of the nits!

I just don’t see that.

Usually people who don't see the problem are part of the problem.

Or they aren’t caught up in an unpleasant transference of moral values.

@barbarianmum and @ginyogarepeat I am neither vegetarian or vegan, in fact we butcher our roosters when we hatch chicks and more recently a duck that we bred for the table.

I get annoyed when I see people thinking they are better than others by 'saving the animals' by being vego, you are not saving them, only reducing the numbers that are killed.

Troubledmuchly.

Well said, very true.

@HeronLanyon haha no unfortunately I don't have Kung Fu reflexes! I saw it buzzing around her face and kind of swatted it down, and when it was on the ground it just made sense to step on him, rather than leaving him crawling around

@TaytoJenny haha I didn't think my choice of words would be so controversial well I officially detract "smooshing" from the record. From now on I will "compress" little buggers like wasps and bugs!

Projection much @StoppinBy ? Where did I say I'm better than others?! You just don't want me to state I'm vegetarian, is that it? I'm vegetarian, hoping to cut down even further on dairy consumption, but certainly don't think I'm better than my omnivore DC and DH! Sorry if that disappoints