Overcoming Ewww!

Today's post is by Julie Hoel, an instructor at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve and KRMB Board Member. She shares an inspiring series of reflections from her life about how she grew toward embracing things that might not be considered "beautiful" or "pretty" in nature. Julie deeply understands how adults can model wonder and awe to help our children develop essential understandings about all aspects of the natural world and our place within it. We've also shared some resources at the end of the post for supporting children and nurturing their connections to things that might seem "yucky," "gross," or "icky" on first glance, but can ultimately prove to be fascinating, cool, and remarkable with a closer look. Maybe helping young people see all that nature holds can help them find greater acceptance for all parts of our existence, too.  

Crawfish, Warner Creek. Photo by Jackie Yocum

I grew up in suburban Chicago where Farmer Dehne’s field had begun growing small houses instead of corn. It was the ‘50s and those houses were filled with 'Boomer' kids. Our moms pushed us out of the house to play, but there was little nature to explore.  I had to ride my bike three blocks to even see a mature tree! This lack of experience in nature might explain my relatively high “Ewww!" factor. I never minded getting dirty, but June bugs smashing into the screens on a warm night or ants streaming from cracks in the sidewalk gave me bad dreams. Not nightmares exactly, but bad enough that I would cross the hall and say, “Gramma, can I sleep with you? There are bugs in my bed.”

My two weeks at YMCA camp in the summer were the highlight of my year. Again, I loved being outside, but the focus there was on activities like canoeing, sailing, and swimming and not much progress was made on lowering the Ewww! factor. Cuddling soft furry things…bunnies, dogs, cats…were fine, but please don’t ask me to touch a frog or slithering snake or a gross bug.

We raised our two kids in a small town in the lake country of Northern Wisconsin. Our house had a small woods, but we were 'beachers.' I had those sand buckets and water toys at the ready in my car at all times. Later they liked camp and sports (the acorns don’t fall far from the tree) and we didn’t spend much time in those woods.

Bat, Hoot Owl Trail. Photo by Jackie Yocum

Shortly after we moved here, I had a life-changing experience while weeding. I inadvertently touched a dead bat in the burdock! Ewww! But I quickly moved from Ewww! to AWE. Actually touching its tiny furry body completely changed my feelings about bats. It was a mammal like me! Its delicate wing membranes were incredible! I had known none of this years earlier when I donned a ski mask and gloves to trap a bat in my house with a pot and whisk it outside into the freezing January night to die. That was before Ewww! had turned to AWE! I feel terrible remembering that. Now I know what amazing creatures they are and I worry about them as they deal with their own bat pandemic of White Nose Syndrome.

Blue-spotted salamander, Little Canada Trail. Photo by Jackie Yocum

My work as an instructor at KVR has given me many opportunities to overcome Ewww! You can’t teach about worms and show any Ewww! when you  touch them. You have to pick up that frog to take advantage of the teachable moment. You have to let that beautiful Luna moth crawl right up your sleeve. You have to let go of Ewww! and get right to AWE.

Recently I had an opportunity to demonstrate just how far I have come when I came across a dead fish floating on the edge of my pond. My first thought wasn’t Ewww! I was wondering how it died. As I looked more closely, I could see something stuck in its mouth. It was brown and oval shaped.  Was it a leaf or an old lure? Luckily I was wearing garden gloves, so I gently pulled the object out of the fish’s mouth. WOW! It was a HUGE bug! Amazing! I took this photo to document the event and amaze my friends. I even posted it on Facebook as a distraction from virus news. Several folks who have not overcome their Ewww! Factors promised never to swim in my pond again. I’m counting on the heat of August and the refreshing cool water to help them overcome their Ewww!

I am doing better with my grandkids. I suppressed the Ewww! when they found this fish washed up on the shore at Devil’s Lake. They were drawn to its beauty sparkling in the September sun. Note my granddaughter’s careful one-fingered touching of those scales. Right to AWE for her! Our children need us to let them get to AWE and feel their connectedness to the natural world. I know now that the Ewww! can engage the senses and turn even the most reluctant learner into a fascinated nature enthusiast. And the future of our planet may depend on that!

***

For more information and ideas, consider Rachel Carson's pivotal work, Help Your Child to Wonder, from 1956. It was later published in book form in 1965. There was also a great PBS documentary made about Carson's work. Find more about that here.  Additional learning about Rachel Carson's remarkable life and work can be found here and here. The Rachel Carson Council carries out her legacy today.

The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) has good advice for supporting kiddos who are uncomfortable with outdoor things. Check it out here.

The Nature's Yucky book series could offer some new ways for young ones to consider things that make them go, "Ewww!"






We'd love to hear about your experiences learning to embrace things in the natural world or supporting your children as they wander and wonder. Reach out, comment on this post, or share your experiences on our Facebook posts.