Bee-Phobia

I have a major bee-phobia. I think a lot of kids are afraid of bees, but mine turned into a phobia when I was about 10 or 11 years old. My dad took me and my 3 siblings to a nearby lake. I don't remember what we did there, but on our way back up the hill from the lake, one of my brothers stepped into a wasp's nest. The next thing we knew, both of my brothers were COVERED in wasps! My dad ran over to them and ripped their T-shirts off, threw them on the ground, and we all ran for home. Fortunately my mom is a nurse and knew just what to do. And thank goodness my brothers aren't allergic to bee stings!

The ironic part of this story is that my sister and I weren't stung, but we're the ones with the phobia. My brothers were the ones COVERED in wasp stings, and neither one of them is afraid of bees. To this day, my sister and I still haven't been stung, and are still afraid of bees. Hey, it was a traumatic event to witness! (I know, I know, we just need to be stung to get over it--but I'm not gonna MAKE myself get stung!)

Since I'm a mom now, I try to be rational about these things. I know I need to teach my kids to stay still and not freak out when there are bees around them. I try to practice what I preach, and I think I do a pretty good job of it, at least most of the time. Instead of running and screaming like I used to, now I just try to calmly walk (or quickly walk!) away when a bee comes near me.

For some reason, we have what seems to be a large number of bees in our backyard. I haven't seen a hive, but it's possible there's one in our bushes. (Anyone want to check for me? I'm not going in there!) I put out a bee trap with some lemonade in it last week, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be catching any bees. I thought bees liked lemonade!

Well today we had a bee incident. We had some friends over to use the slip and slide and splash in the baby pool. The kids were having a great time getting wet and then laying on towels on the deck to dry off. H was laying face down on a towel when I noticed a bee land on the bottom of her foot. After about 10 seconds it was still there and I didn't want her to roll over or jump up suddenly and get stung, so I walked over and grabbed her leg to hold it still. She rolled over and saw the bee and started to cry out, but I told her to stay calm and not scare the bee, since we didn't want it to sting her. I tried gently blowing the bee off several times, but it stayed there for at least a full minute, which is a LONG time, especially if you are terrified of bees!! I just kept talking to H, trying to keep both her AND ME (and the seven kids crowded around us) from freaking out. The bee finally flew away and we were all very grateful that she didn't get stung. I told H I was VERY proud of her for staying calm. I was proud of myself, too!

I've gotta do something about those bees. . .