OMG! I was horrified to begin with, but seeing how bad an accident makes it so so much worse. No, you do not get the luxury of putting your kid in that kind of danger because you have an irrational fear.
Not defending this women's actions, but I'm feeling some kind of way about your terming it a luxury. Phobias aren't so easy to cure. And it's not always so obvious how phobic one is until they encounter whatever it is they are phobic of and not every instance necessarily causes the same, exact reaction.
I understand incredibly irrational fear. I have a fear of snakes that is so strong that I can't handle walking past the reptile house at the zoo for fear one might have escaped and won't garden or hike for fear of encountering a snake. I get sweaty palms and my heart starts racing knowing they're in there. But I still don't get to put my child and other people in immediate danger because of that fear.
With the presence of mind, of course, everyone can say this was a terrible move. In hindsight, I'm sure she can, too. But fear is a powerful motivator and I doubt she ever thought that a spider would crawl on her while she was driving with her child and cause her reaction to be this strong. But I'm going to let everyone continue finger wagging and "I would never" ing.
Seriously? Even MW has posted where she's had a couple of encounters with a spider in her car. Spiders are everywhere. It's something that you might have to deal with daily.
With the presence of mind, of course, everyone can say this was a terrible move. In hindsight, I'm sure she can, too. But fear is a powerful motivator and I doubt she ever thought that a spider would crawl on her while she was driving with her child and cause her reaction to be this strong. But I'm going to let everyone continue finger wagging and "I would never" ing.
Seriously? Even MW has posted where she's had a couple of encounters with a spider in her car. Spiders are everywhere. It's something that you might have to deal with daily.
Is MW's real name Angela Kipp?
Angie/@majorwife, are you holding out on us?
Ultimately, unless someone can show me where she randomly leaves her kid in moving cars or otherwise puts his life in danger, I am going to stick with my thoughts that she knew this was a phobia for her, but did not/could not foresee both that this would happen and that her fear would be strong enough to garner this reaction. But like I said, I know how good it feels to wag that finger, so I'm going to let everyone keep the party going :-#.
I don't think she should be allowed to have a drivers license. I'm not saying she's a horrible person, I'm sure she feels terrible and has great regret but her phobia is clearly very powerful. So thankful the child didn't die, and will make a full recovery. I do not wish a tougher repercussion than this on anyone, I feel badly for her.
But she shouldn't be allowed to drive because spiders are common and when you are on the road you can endanger the lives of many with irrational reactions like this.
I understand incredibly irrational fear. I have a fear of snakes that is so strong that I can't handle walking past the reptile house at the zoo for fear one might have escaped and won't garden or hike for fear of encountering a snake. I get sweaty palms and my heart starts racing knowing they're in there. But I still don't get to put my child and other people in immediate danger because of that fear.
so you have never had a snake on you? so you don't know how you would react?
I have had a spider on me. I know how I react.
I hope I would just faint next time so I could get some sympathy when the article is later posted on a message board.
I have a snake phobia. In high school biology, I paid my brother to go through my biology book and cover up all the pics of snakes with post it notes. We were passing around a picture of a snake in class (why Jesus) and someone put it right in front of my face and I started shrieking and hyperventilating. OVER a PICTURE. I won't take my kids anywhere near the reptile stuff at the zoo.
Prior to that, my brothers once threw a snake at me. Just a little black garden snake. I flipped the fuck out and I am pretty sure they got the beating of their lives from my dad; mostly because he had to deal with my hysterics from it. They never did it again.
I have no idea what the fuck I would do if I was driving a car and it happened. I mean, in all likelihood it wouldn't just appear but who the fuck knows? I cannot say I wouldn't jump out of a moving car, though. Hopefully not one I was driving?
so you have never had a snake on you? so you don't know how you would react?
I have had a spider on me. I know how I react.
I hope I would just faint next time so I could get some sympathy when the article is later posted on a message board.
I have a snake phobia. In high school biology, I paid my brother to go through my biology book and cover up all the pics of snakes with post it notes. We were passing around a picture of a snake in class (why Jesus) and someone put it right in front of my face and I started shrieking and hyperventilating. OVER a PICTURE. I won't take my kids anywhere near the reptile stuff at the zoo.
Prior to that, my brothers once threw a snake at me. Just a little black garden snake. I flipped the fuck out and I am pretty sure they got the beating of their lives from my dad; mostly because he had to deal with my hysterics from it. They never did it again.
I have no idea what the fuck I would do if I was driving a car and it happened. I mean, in all likelihood it wouldn't just appear but who the fuck knows? I cannot say I wouldn't jump out of a moving car, though. Hopefully not one I was driving?
Snakes are not only on planes, eclaires, they are also in cars. Therefore, please go to therapy. In the meantime, please do not ever be alone with your children again. Furthermore, please refer us to your state DMV so that we can make sure your license is revoked. Thanks.
I don't think she should be allowed to have a drivers license. I'm not saying she's a horrible person, I'm sure she feels terrible and has great regret but her phobia is clearly very powerful. So thankful the child didn't die, and will make a full recovery. I do not wish a tougher repercussion than this on anyone, I feel badly for her.
But she shouldn't be allowed to drive because spiders are common and when you are on the road you can endanger the lives of many with irrational reactions like this.
I have a snake phobia. In high school biology, I paid my brother to go through my biology book and cover up all the pics of snakes with post it notes. We were passing around a picture of a snake in class (why Jesus) and someone put it right in front of my face and I started shrieking and hyperventilating. OVER a PICTURE. I won't take my kids anywhere near the reptile stuff at the zoo.
Prior to that, my brothers once threw a snake at me. Just a little black garden snake. I flipped the fuck out and I am pretty sure they got the beating of their lives from my dad; mostly because he had to deal with my hysterics from it. They never did it again.
I have no idea what the fuck I would do if I was driving a car and it happened. I mean, in all likelihood it wouldn't just appear but who the fuck knows? I cannot say I wouldn't jump out of a moving car, though. Hopefully not one I was driving?
Snakes are not only on planes, eclaires, they are also in cars. Therefore, please go to therapy. In the meantime, please do not ever be alone with your children again. Furthermore, please refer us to your state DMV so that we can make sure your license is revoked. Thanks.
I should probably hire a full time caregiver for myself just to protect everyone else!
Post by fuckyourcouch on Sept 21, 2015 12:36:25 GMT -5
I have done this. Luckily I wasn't driving. My dad was going about 25 and there was a big one on the seat of his truck and I tucked and rolled right out the door. I am fucking terrified of spiders.
I assume i would have the presence of mind to pull over and stop if this happened to me, but I have a pretty uncontrollable reaction to them usually, it's a complete flight response (there is no fight option). Of course it's illogical and over the top, that's what phobias are. And I am too afraid of therapy for it to go, because every doctor has told me CBT for this involves eventually holding one. That is enough to keep me from going.
Post by pixy0stix on Sept 21, 2015 12:37:24 GMT -5
I'm not sure why everyone thinks it cute to be flippant about this. Her car was destroyed, her child sent to the hospital. It's a mental health issue that we obviously, as a society, don't think is a very big deal. Yet her child could have died, and I'm not saying that for shock value.
why are people acting like I said something crazy?? look at that wreckage, because a spider was in her car. If she is going to react like that when a spider is in her car, she is a danger on the road. I mean, spiders are everywhere! It's one thing to freak out but if you are going to dive out of a moving car when you see a spider then yes that is pretty severe.
I don't understand all this "jumping out of a moving car" business. Are these people not wearing seat belts? When a terrifying spider crawls on me, I brush it off while screaming, I don't reach for the seat belt buckle. PRIORITIES.
You know I do not have a phobia of any kind of insect or arachnid or reptile or amphibian or anything. I'm honestly not so afraid of anything to the point that it's debilitating.
HOWEVER...however... if goddamn Charlotte the spider with her six inch leg span or whatever or even just a little generic spider I wasn't expecting crawled up my shoulder I would probably freak the fuck out, too. Does that mean I should never drive again? Probably not. Does that mean that I should have my license taken away? No. Get the fuck outta here with that. Geez.
Unfortunately for her, her reaction proved to be extremely dangerous. Luckily for her and her child, no one was seriously injured. She should be ticketed and fined accordingly. She doesn't need her license revoked or be in state monitored therapy or other such nonsense.
I understand incredibly irrational fear. I have a fear of snakes that is so strong that I can't handle walking past the reptile house at the zoo for fear one might have escaped and won't garden or hike for fear of encountering a snake. I get sweaty palms and my heart starts racing knowing they're in there. But I still don't get to put my child and other people in immediate danger because of that fear.
Well, that's nice of you to be mindful of that but that's not the nature of fear and phobias. It's not something you can plan out ahead of time and prepare for, completely. It's not something you can make sit in the corner and hush up. The fight or flight response is a complicated thing to rearrange.
Maybe the fact that you can do that suggests that your fear is not a phobia and is something you are able to control.
Phobias are predictable, though. My reaction may not be the same every time, but it's similar. And spiders are common enough that she probably had a damn good idea she would freak the fuck out.
I do agree with you that you can't exactly prepare, but CBT and exposure therapy worked wonders for me. I still get a little panicky, but I can deal. And yeah, they're not rational. I have a phobia of a generally harmless object but only a calm rational fear of ants (history of anaphylaxis for ants).
She needs therapy. Her kid almost died. It's not safe to just ignore her spider phobia.
"Spiders are common" - Uh... do y'all have spiders living in your car on a regular basis? You have nests of them hanging out in your vehicle? I know I don't. Even if she does have a spider phobia, I think it's reasonable to expect that one is not going to surprise you in your car while you're driving.
"Spiders are common" - Uh... do y'all have spiders living in your car on a regular basis? You have nests of them hanging out in your vehicle? I know I don't. Even if she does have a spider phobia, I think it's reasonable to expect that one is not going to surprise you in your car while you're driving.
Did you, or did you not, read all the stories in this thread alone about finding spiders in the car?
They're everywhere. I guarantee that every time you step on a patch of lawn you're going to step on at least 1-2 ground spiders beneath you. You more than likely have spiders living in your house right now. They're part of our ecosystem, and they're not going anywhere.
so you have never had a snake on you? so you don't know how you would react?
I have had a spider on me. I know how I react.
I hope I would just faint next time so I could get some sympathy when the article is later posted on a message board.
I have a snake phobia. In high school biology, I paid my brother to go through my biology book and cover up all the pics of snakes with post it notes. We were passing around a picture of a snake in class (why Jesus) and someone put it right in front of my face and I started shrieking and hyperventilating. OVER a PICTURE. I won't take my kids anywhere near the reptile stuff at the zoo.
Prior to that, my brothers once threw a snake at me. Just a little black garden snake. I flipped the fuck out and I am pretty sure they got the beating of their lives from my dad; mostly because he had to deal with my hysterics from it. They never did it again.
I have no idea what the fuck I would do if I was driving a car and it happened. I mean, in all likelihood it wouldn't just appear but who the fuck knows? I cannot say I wouldn't jump out of a moving car, though. Hopefully not one I was driving?
OMG, your brother is so much nicer than mine. Periodically just for shock value my brother will mail me a snake postcard. He still does this at almost 30. He would have taken my money, not covered the snakes and mocked me lol!
My father once convinced me there were snow snakes that were deadly and you couldn't see in the snow until they got you. While we were away on a ski vacation. I wouldn't ski the rest of the week. My mom nearly killed him since my life ticket wasn't cheap. And I wasn't sleeping so she wasn't sleeping.
"Spiders are common" - Uh... do y'all have spiders living in your car on a regular basis? You have nests of them hanging out in your vehicle? I know I don't. Even if she does have a spider phobia, I think it's reasonable to expect that one is not going to surprise you in your car while you're driving.
Did you, or did you not, read all the stories in this thread alone about finding spiders in the car?
They're everywhere. I guarantee that every time you step on a patch of lawn you're going to step on at least 1-2 ground spiders beneath you. You more than likely have spiders living in your house right now. They're part of our ecosystem, and they're not going anywhere.
LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU THE SPIDER I FOUND IN MY CAR IS THE ONLY SPIDER IN THE ENTIRE STATE AND HE'S GONE NOW LA LA LA!
"Spiders are common" - Uh... do y'all have spiders living in your car on a regular basis? You have nests of them hanging out in your vehicle? I know I don't. Even if she does have a spider phobia, I think it's reasonable to expect that one is not going to surprise you in your car while you're driving.
I've never seen one in my car. I have seen them on the outside of my car.
But yes, common. I haven't seen one inside my apartment, but I'm sure there are a couple. There are spiders and webs in the bushes by my door. I'm not going to start a list, but I see at least a couple a week.
By common I meant common enough she knew she had a phobia and her probable reaction- not that they're in cars.
"Spiders are common" - Uh... do y'all have spiders living in your car on a regular basis? You have nests of them hanging out in your vehicle? I know I don't. Even if she does have a spider phobia, I think it's reasonable to expect that one is not going to surprise you in your car while you're driving.
Did you, or did you not, read all the stories in this thread alone about finding spiders in the car?
They're everywhere. I guarantee that every time you step on a patch of lawn you're going to step on at least 1-2 ground spiders beneath you. You more than likely have spiders living in your house right now. They're part of our ecosystem, and they're not going anywhere.
Yes I did read that. Thank you, sassy.
I realize that spiders are everywhere. But I also think it's reasonable to expect that you likely won't find one in your car so often that you wouldn't be startled or act irrationally should you get surprised by one.
I see spiders all the time! maybe it's regional (I live in the northeast) but I encounter spiders every day. Not freakishly huge or anything and rarely in my car, but yes I see a lot of spiders.