A Bug's Life: Cultivating Respect

For any life to be important, every life must be important. It's the cornerstone of community and consciousness that we remember that everyone and everything has value.  Every creature plays a role in nature and we are all interdependent upon each other.  How we as parents, teachers, and adults, treat all living things becomes the lens through which our children see nature, see the world, and see themselves.  Remembering and reflecting on the anniversary of 9/11 today, I am reminded how very important cultivating respect for life truly is.

Dr. Montessori wrote: ‘Since it has been seen to be necessary to give so much to the child, let us give him a vision of the whole universe. The universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all questions. We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity. This idea helps the mind of the child to become fixed, to stop wandering in an aimless quest for knowledge. He is satisfied, having found the universal center of himself with all things’ (Clio 1989 p 5 – 6).  She believed deeply in the concept of cosmic education, that the stories of the natural world and its history strengthen the child's connection with the natural, physical, and social world.  While Cosmic Education lies at the heart of the Montessori Elementary Curriculum, it's ideas are important for children of all ages.  Respect for nature is as important a part of respect for society as any other thing we can teach our children.

Sometimes it so easy to forget that every interaction we have teaches our children something.  Mistakenly swatting at a fly or stomping on an ant means so much more to a child than it does to us.  But every time we perpetuate the idea of insects, or any creature for that matter, as an invader to be put to death, we show our children that not all living things have value.  But, they do!  Spiders may be creepy and crawly but they devour other insects and are part of an important ecological system.  So are snakes, rodents, and many other "intruders."  While we may wish to remove the invaders, how we choose to do so will impact our children's respect for nature.  Rescuing and releasing cultivates sensitivity while killing cultivates disconnection and insensitivity.  Respect for a bug's life will teach your child respect for all life.  And that translates so much farther than we realize.  It translates into respect for differences between people and understanding that all creatures and all people have something to give and something wholesome and good about them.  It cultivates peace, and we need a little more of that in the world.

When my son and I go out into the world, we look for all the little creatures and we try to connect.  I'll be honest, deep down, I fight some of my own fears sometimes.  I hide those fears because there is no need for my son to learn to be afraid of any creature.  Rather, he must learn to respect all that those creatures are capable of.  When we encounter a bug's life, we stop to ponder it, we stop to consider it, and then we let it go about its business.  In this time fraught with the tendency of the human race to disconnect themselves from more and more, I want my son to know nature and to love it.

(can you see the leaf bug in these photos?)