Most children by nature (no pun intended!) seem to love looking at insects and spiders – observing what they are doing, studying how they eat or interact, and looking up and learning about the particular bug they have found. While many parents can be less than enthusiastic about finding an unwanted critter in the house, try using this as a learning opportunity. You can either invest in a simple bug box with a magnifying glass or even just reuse a cleaned jam or other glass jar to catch the critter and examine it before you release it outside. Some simple insect and spider identification books should help you learn about your great find. Not only can this be a great educational experience for your child, but it has a number of other advantages as well. First, spiders act as a natural insecticide, helping reduce pests such as flies, mites, and mosquitoes. Secondly, they also act as food for birds and other animals you DO want around. Simply releasing spiders and insects outside instead of using conventional pesticides and insecticides keeps chemicals out of our environment which can damage kids’ brains and nervous systems which continue to develop through age 12. If 10,000 people help their kids relocate a spider instead of squishing it, we’ll let nature dispose of 20 million insects without man-made chemicals!