Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home,
Your house is on fire,
Your children shall burn!

There were superstitious beliefs that it was unlucky to kill a ladybug, and that the verse would make them fly off.[7] Another superstition states that you should chant the verse if a ladybug lands on you: if it then flies away again, your wish will come true.[8]

Ladybugs are useful as eaters of aphids, which would otherwise damage plants. They can also be a nuisance, but there would be logic from a farmer or gardener’s viewpoint in trying to shoo them away rather than kill them. This could be the rational basis for teaching children to respect them.