Mara and the Giant Ant

Mara, her mother and I went to the aquarium to day. After her mother went back to work, Mara and I continued on to the botanic garden where in the children's garden portion of giant vegetables (sculpture) and bugs, we ran into this giant ant. Mara has been bitten before and doesn't like ants. She found the prospect of a giant ant scary. I encouraged her to get closer and maybe touch it and she flatly refused. Then we ran into a family featuring little boys who noticing how worried she was, explained it was "plastic". Mara was still scared and then one of the little boys touched it and then dared her to touch it. This was more than Mara could handle and she walked up and patted it on the head. I don't think she understood the words, but she definitely seemed to understand the concept. She was really proud of herself for touching it. After the boys moved on, Mara kept her distance and pronounced the ant "scary".

I give thanks for the courage to conquer fears.