You think? I suspect it's pretty cultural. We're not scared of butterflies, because we are told they are pretty and fairy-like, even though some are red and could fly in our face. Bats are apparently scary but not badgers - old Brock.
Mmm, probably. I find it difficult to empathise, being really quite fond of spiders, so I'm really not sure why anyone would be afraid of them. Most of them - and there are lots - in my house have names and I'm always careful with the hoover to go round them if I can. Methuselah has been living in the bathroom for quite a long time. But is that because Mum also liked them? OH spent a few years growing up in Australia, so you'd think he'd be more wary. But no, he has his own pet names for the ones in his shed.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I used to be quite nervous of spiders as a kid but fell in love with money spiders and went from there. I'm much more squeamish about roaches. Rats and mice I have no problem, but the intelligent plotting of the cockroach is horrendous. That comes from living in SE Asia and opening a door to a hotel cupboard and seeing the whole floor moving. In residence in a rain forest is fine. On your pillow staring you down. No.
At my old house there was a window at the top of the stairs and a particular type of spider would always end up there. Never knew what type they were but I called them crab spiders as they always moved sideways and raised their front legs like crab claws; when you have a house where you are chased across the landing by these and then the big black ones chase you across the livingroom you are likely to get a complex about them.😨
It was for many many years, I was told moving to a bungalow would be much worse as all ground floor rooms would be in greater danger of invasion but things are no different in fact this house has many more of the spinderly kind than the others. All the birds in the garden make up for it.😁
It's still irrational give the size difference and the fact that UK spiders are harmless. Do go and get yourself desensitised. At your age you could have 40 plus more years of living in fear which is mad.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I am better than I was, but if desensitizing works I should be better as they are a constant irratant. We who see our dislike every day, slugs,worms ,birds will never be understood by those with more dangerous fears like snakes, flying, hights but these type of fears are always more understood/forgiven. Its not as though a bat or snake will jump out at you every day, or the plane (which I have been on many times) you are traveling on will fall every time but these are better understood.
My Dad (who was a psychiatric nurse) proposed the theory that any phobia is a sign of a hidden anxiety. The phobia allows socially acceptable outlets for the underlying anxiety and is usually something relatively harmless to the phobee, or at least not going to upset their life dramatically. My daughter has an intense fear of spiders but is otherwise reasonably well adjusted (despite being her mother's daughter) so I'm happy to let her scream whenever she wants.
Which gels with your comments @purplerallim and maybe explains why constant contact is not enough
"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." Sir Terry Pratchett
Well said Herbaceous. I have not passed my intense dislike on to my daughter as even though I may have shown fear it did not translate to her. My fear stems from when I was 2 or 3 when a very large black garden spider was seen behind the tv ( old type on legs) and Mum had trouble getting it among all the cables, funnily enough I don't remember it as her being scared.
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“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Which gels with your comments @purplerallim and maybe explains why constant contact is not enough