Be nice.

Molly* rolled her eyes at me today.
Jennifer's* shoe was untied as we were getting ready to go wash hands, so I had her come sit down and tied her shoe for her.

Molly didn't want to let her back in line.
"You got out of line," she said. "Tough."

So I said mildly, "Molly, Jennifer can have her place back."

Molly heaved a heavy sigh, rolled her eyes at me, and sighed again.

So she earned a place at the end of the line. As you'll recall, being in the right place in line is pretty important to her, so she was a little pissed off at me.

We washed, ate our snacks as quickly as possible, and spent the rest of the afternoon outside. I brought the kids in at 5 so I could put things away/set up for Monday morning's program.

When we hit the playground this afternoon, the kids found a very large garden spider busily making a web between two of the poles on the swings. There were screams and squeals and horror... "Kill it!!!" to which I answered loudly, "NO!!"

I got a long piece of bark from the playground and wrapped the web around it. The spider was a little tired, probably from all that web spinning, and sat nicely on the wood while I carried her. Took it over to the bushes lining the edge of the field and gently put it on the ground underneath while most of the kids watched avidly.

"I'm sure the spider will be happier if she builds her website over here," I told them. "I'm pretty sure she doesn't want people running through her web any more than they want to be running through it."

I hope some of the lessons I teach them 'stick'. Respect for the smallest of creatures is important to me. Sometimes they think I'm weird for it, but I can see the lesson getting through to many of them, too. I don't see it as a waste of time to educate them.

They wanted to know how I knew the spider was a girl.
So I explained the egg sac and showed them how large her abdomen was. And told them that pretty soon, there'd be a ton of baby spiders running around. I wondered aloud who'd change their diapers, but pointed out that with eight arms, it was probably easier than with only two.

Anyway, it was a great fall day, and I'm glad to be where I am, doing what I do.

Eric called me not too long before I got off work to let me know he was stranded at the pizza place. He needed me to stop there on my way home so he could jump the battery on his truck. I wonder if it will start on Monday...

So if you see any spiders (and you will... 'tis the season) remember that they are doing you a service, and that unless they're venomous, they're better left alone or relocated.

As I tell the kids, spiders have to make a living, too. And if you were out looking for food and someone smashed you for being yourself, it would be a real bummer.

This concludes today's public service announcement.