My 9 year old daughter is terrified of spiders. I keep trying to tell her that they are very good at keeping the evil west nile virus carrying mosquitos away (we live in California it is the new disease of the year here), but that doesn't seem to help calm her down. I don't mind spiders (except black widows - something to do with older siblings locking me in a shed full of them at a young age...), but her father (a firefighter) has a pathological fear of anything with more than 4 legs. I blame him everytime she loses it when a little spider comes into view. My three year old boy thinks they are great toys meant to amuse him by scaring his sister until she is reduced to a quivering ball of terror. It doesn't help that she is almost as big as I am and tries to get me to pick her up when she is scared.....