All insects and spiders are bad and should be killed.

Children follow the lead of adults when it comes to insects. An entomophobic parent who sprays or squashes every invertebrate in her path will undoubtedly teach her child the same behavior. But few of the arthropods we encounter in our everyday lives are threats of any kind, and many are vital to our own well-being. Insects fill many important jobs in the ecosystem, from pollination to decomposition. Spiders prey on insects and other invertebrates, keeping pest populations in check. It's worth knowing when (if ever) an insect warrants a squishing and when it deserves to be left alone, and teaching our children to respect invertebrates as they would any other wildlife.

Small insects with wings are baby insects that will grow up to be adults.

If an insect has wings, it's an adult, no matter how tiny it might be. Insects only grow as nymphs or larvae. During that stage, they grow and molt. For insects that undergo simple, or incomplete metamorphosis, the nymph molts one final time to reach winged adulthood. For those that undergo complete metamorphosis, the larvae pupates. The adult then emerges from the pupa. Winged insects have already reached their adult size, and will not grow any larger.

Insects sing like we do, with their mouths.

While we refer to the mating and defensive calls of insects as songs, insects can't produce sounds in the same way we do. Insects do not have vocal cords. Instead, they produce sounds by using different body parts to make vibrations. Crickets and katydids rub their forewings together. Cicadas vibrate special organs called tymbals. Locusts rub their legs against their wings.

If a bug is in the sink or tub, it came up from the drain.

You can't blame a kid for thinking that. After all, most adults seem to make this assumption, too. Insects don't hide in our plumbing, waiting for an opportunity to pop out and scare us. Our homes are dry environments, and insects and spiders seek out moisture. They're drawn to the more humid environment in our bathrooms and kitchens. Once an insect slips down the slope of a sink or bathtub, it has a hard time crawling back up and ends up stranded near the drain.

If it has eight legs, it’s a spider.

While it's true a spider has eight legs, not all critters with eight legs are spiders. Members of the class Arachnida are characterized, in part, by having four pairs of legs. Arachnids include a variety of arthropods, from ticks to scorpions. You just can't assume that any creepy crawly with eight legs is a spider.

A daddy longlegs is a spider.

It's easy to see why kids would mistake the daddy longlegs for a spider. This long-legged critter behaves in many ways like the spiders they've observed, and it does have eight legs, after all. But daddy longlegs, or harvestmen, as they are also called, lack several important spider characteristics. Where spiders have two distinct, separated body parts, the cephalothorax and abdomen of the harvestmen are fused into one. Harvestmen lack both the silk and venom glands that spiders possess.

Insects aren't really animals.

Kids think of animals as things with fur and feathers, or perhaps even scales. When asked whether insects belong in this group, however, they balk at the idea. Insects seem different somehow. It's important for children to recognize that all arthropods, those creepy crawlies with exoskeletons, belong to the same kingdom we do – the animal kingdom.