My mother was deathly afraid of snakes. I’m talking – pee your pants, squeal like a baby, rip your head off if you joked about them – fear of snakes. She passed this fear on to me – along with wide hips, a fierce need to control my environment and her death look. When I had Will I vowed to break this cycle! No more would generation of my family’s offspring be shaken to the core by slimy, spotted, slithering amphibians.
Last year, Will and I attended the Lakeshore Mardi Gras. While he was safely tucked in his stroller, we cruised by the Critters area. We saw frogs, guinea pigs and the like – and then we went to the snake table. I sucked up my fear and stood there. Then the broad tried to hand me the snake and I screamed. Ooops….FAIL! As I said to her – just standing there was a massive feat for me – I needed to ease into it!
Well, this week was Travelling Critters Day at Will’s daycare. I really wanted to go for a number of reasons:
a. I wanted to see Will in action with his buddies
b. I wanted to continue on my quest to ‘touch the snake’ (save your innuendo’ed comments)
c. I wanted to hold a guinea pig! (I was deprived for years as a kid – apparently Santa doesn’t bring ‘live animals’ on the sleigh! This worked until the kid up the street got a puppy…and the Santa dream died!)
ANYWAY. Off I went. And around came the animals!
THE RAT
THE BUNNY
THE BUGS! WTF?!?!?! Then they fed the bugs to the giant toad…ummm holy traumatize??
Then the moment of truth…the snake came out of the box and started making his way around the room with his buddy the iguana. My heart was pounding, my palms were sweating but I was determined. And when that godforsaken snake came my way…I TOUCHED IT!!!
And I lived! My boy?? He was freaking terrified even after spending the morning hissing and asking for the ‘big snake’.
I guess fear of snakes is genetic rather than learned??? Or he could feel my entire body shaking like a leaf.
I can assure you there will be no ‘Reptilia’ trips in our future but at least I can say I faced my fear!
What irrational fear do you have that you don’t want to pass onto your kids???
Carrie says
Sara I never thought I would be able to do it either…the desire to see my fiancee after months away from each other was way stronger than my fear of snakes at that time. I just tried not to think about it!
Sara says
oh Carrie – there is NO way I could sleep in a house with a snake in it! My friend in university had a boyfriend who LOST HIS SNAKE in his house and she still stayed there. Yeah – not going to happen!!!!!!!
Sara says
You love snakes???? OH MY! Gross. But I’m with you on the water thing. When we were in Australia, I tried to get over my fear by snorkeling as well – then my ‘friends’ threw bread all around my head and all the bat fish came and started eating them…I lost it. Needless to say I can count on my one hand the number of times in the 7 months I was there that I swam in the ocean. I’m a lake girl for sure!
CG_05 says
I.
LOVE.
SNAKES!!!
The love of them almost got me into trouble in Australia when there was a baby one on the ramp going up to a door I needed to go through to get inside. In my stupidity I picked up a door mat and gave it a little nudge to make it move. Apparently baby snakes can be even more venomous than their parents and I was given a firm lecture to NEVER EVER touch a snake in Australia.
Oooops…
I’m scared of heights. REALLY scared of heights. Like, I can hardly climb a step-ladder without getting weak kneed. I’ve faced my fear hardcore a few times in the last little while though and “attempted” rock climbing (like, on a mountain, not in a gym!) and went across a huge suspension bridge.
Also scared of the water (like deep, over-my-head water). LOVE being on boats and near the water and splashing around…I just can’t swim. However, again, I faced my fear and went snorkeling a few times in Australia (with a life jacket of course!). I’m sure that if I ever learn to swim properly my fear will mostly go away.
Jaimie says
I can’t think of a specific fear or phobia that I don’t want to pass on, but in general I hope for Ally that he has less fear of having to be really good at something he tries. I want him to just try something for the fun of it, and risk being a big, fat failure at it at first, and not be too paralyzed by potential embarrassment.
Carrie says
I can 100% relate to this blog!! I have had a debilitating fear of snakes since I was three years old when one slithered in my boot that I left outside…only later to climb up my leg when I put my boot back on….GAH!!
Anyhow my fear was so bad that I could not go into pet stores, reptile zoos and if I happened to come across one outdoors it literally left me convulsing and at times vomiting!! IT was BAD!!
Anyhow I was faced with no choice but to get past it…when my fiancée and i got engaged and I was going to visit him (he still lived in Chicago and I in Mtl) he informed me his roommate had a pet snake…after nightmares etc I has to resign myself that if I wanted to see my fiancée i needed to spend a weekend in a house with a snake!!! OMG!!
But when faced with something I really wanted I overcame it..I actually touched him..and “Fabio” is actually quite sweet!!
all that being said I have been really careful not to pass the fear on to my kids..they know that even though Mommy is afraid of them…they don’t have to be!