I have a boy that is almost one. I believe he was born in November. The other day I was feeding him (I did it once and...) and noticed something very enlightening. A pesky fly had gotten in the house. While feeding the boy the fly landed on my knee. Well, he happened to see it. We were about done eating so it all stopped at that point. He was mesmerized. He would slowly reach for the fly and of coarse it would fly a short distance and land. He followed this thing and tried to catch it a hundred times. Well, in my mind I saw babysitter.
What an idea. If I had only thought of it five kids ago. If you can get the fly to hang around your kid, he becomes their best friend. They will play together forever. It is a great toy for the kid. Think about it. I know that flys are dirty, but really, what are the chances that he will catch it? YOU try and catch one. With one hand. Moving as slow as a toddler. If your kid is moving around, crawling, they can play chase.
Now the trick is to keep the the fly close and interested. I have experimented with several possibilities. If it is a short term thing nothing is needed. Just put him close to the fly and chances are that the fly will land on or close to him rather quickly. At first I wondered why this was. I thought it was just general curiosity on the part of the fly. "Hey, let me check this out" kind of deal. But then I realized that flies aren't that social. They need incentive. That's when it hit me.
I would need something that the fly likes to keep him around for longer periods of time. What do flies like? First thing that came to mind was dead or rotting meat. It might be different in your case, but my wife put a stop to using this one. They will eat a variety of things, depending on species. Here is what I have found to work. Any thing that your child has recently eaten. Instead of using a wipe (and I'm sure killing some tree somewhere) to clean him off, let him be. He will like it better anyway. If your kid or flies are into changing things around, try tree sap, nectar or blood (left over from your ground beef pack). If you have a problem with putting this stuff directly on your little cutie you can apply it to something and keep it close to your kid. I don't like this method because it defeats the whole babysitting idea. If you have to constantly keep this thing close, you might as well watch your kid. Try a bracelet. It goes where they do.
Now, I know you are asking why the fly would play with my son before the additives. The short term play. Well, I decided that it was because kids always have additives. That is to say unless they have just been given a bath. But nine times out of ten they will have part of their latest meal on them, somewhere. It may be invisible to the naked human eye, but the fly can see it.
One word of caution. You will want to be careful when you do this outside, especially in the country. If their are lots of flies around they could gang up on him. Not that they want to do any harm, but too many might confuse your kid. "Which one do I play with."
El Toro Negro
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