Wasps! Why are people so freakin' afraid?

SurferRosa

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

can't stand it when parents freak out with wasps around their kids and pass on the stupid fear

I totally get this - it's exactly what I've done and I feel so bad.
I didn't always fear wasps. I was a tomboy and was always really fascinated with insects.
Went to Germany as a kid at 12 (half German and staying with grandparents for a good while)
It was August and wasps were dying out/ getting aggressive. There were warnings on the radio and all. Can't quite pinpoint how the fear started but I know I became paranoid that they were everywhere.
Like all phobias - or most - my fear is totally irrational. I hate seeing pictures of them and I do very annoyingly freak out ( if I can escape) . If I can't escape I sit there with my fingers in my ears silently crying in terror.
I wish so much I wasn't like this. It's strange, I love spiders, would have huge ones in my hands. Most insects I can at least deal with even if I'm not keen on them. Even bees don't have me as scared though I got stung 3 times by a bee and only once by a wasp.
Anyway I have 3 kids and I've not managed to control my reactions very well. My 7 year old is now very nervous. I hate that he has this fear. I make more effort to stay calm these days but it's too late now .
My toddler got stung there a few weeks ago when I was out with the kids and the dog. She's standing there minding her own business (almost 3 years old ) when she starts screaming. Wasp stuck in her forehead stinging her. It got stuck though. Normally I abandon my kids when wasps are near (well kind of) but this time I had to act and had to help,her. It took 3 whacks to get wasp off. Its stinger got left behind. (Deffo a wasp not bee though ) Daughter hysterical. Had to walk home her screaming, my 2 boys crawling along with their caterpillar hoarde ( they had been collecting them and they were also black,with yellow stripes eww ), 7 months pregnant.
Didn't cure my fear, though there's so many of them now, I can only maintain a high state of terror for so long and eventually start trying to swat them or keep my distance once they keep away from me!
Can't wait for them all to die out!

wendell borton

If your afraid of wasps give bottle banks a wide berth as they're crawling with wasps this time of year.

Spanish Eyes

What purpose do wasps serve? Do they help with pollinating things? do they make lovely honey, what do they do?

But their stings are nothing like the horsefly bites I got last year. OMG. Think bitten parts twice the size of normal and so itchy and sore and red and whatnot. The worst thing is, them horseflies are bugg ers at night time, and you can't see them either. Horrible things.

Sorry to go off topic, but there are worse stings than wasps!

mohawk

miezekatze wrote: »

Wasps usually don't sting unless you provoke them.

Provoke them!! I was once sunbathing in the back garden when all of a sudden I felt a very intense stabbing pain in my finger and I looked down to find some jerk wasp was responsible. I can't relax around them any more.

They are EVIL. They don't even make honey the jerks.