TAMING FEARS

BABYCENTER sent me this update on my now 33 month old. How appropriate this information was-I had to share.

"Your 2-year-old now

A lively imagination often gives temporary birth to monsters, dragons, ghosts, and other mysterious creatures of the dark. Fear of the dark is common as a child's mind becomes capable of inventing its own stories. (You can actually think of night fears — the result of an overactive imagination — as a sophisticated cognitive development.)

To help calm your child:

Take the fear seriously. Never belittle it or make fun of your child's fantasy.
Skip the logic. A patient explanation that there's no way a monster could live in the closet but only at night won't wash.
Look at the room from your child's viewpoint. Maybe there's a weird shadow that really does look like a spiderweb.
Try some light. The reassuring glow of a nightlight or a light in the hallway has vanquished many a scary creature.
Give a little extra TLC. Often fears reflect some other anxiety in your child's life; she might just want some hugs and snuggles. A happy and secure bedtime routine before your child is tucked in is important, too."

FLIES

Shew, fly, don't bother me,
Shew, fly, don't bother me,
Shew, fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to somebody.

I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star,
I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.

How do you help a little girl accept the flies? Sing this song with your little one and with the movement of your hand show how one can shew them away! This is a cute and fun way to conquer the fear. :)

WIND

Ancraophobia - fear of wind. I get it. I really do. Poor V! For now it's driving with the AC rather than with the windows rolled down. Today was the first day in a while where we talked about the lovely breeze and how happy it could make her. Hopefully we can start going to the playground again on a windy or rather light breezy day. That would be lovely. :)

SPIDERS

When I was a little girl my biggest fear was spiders. If I saw one, i would scream bloody murder and my father would come running upstairs and kill the little bugger. My husband grew up embracing spiders, escorting them outside with a paper and glass cup. Well I did my best to shield V of my inner fear. If I saw a spider I would quickly and quietly get my husband and force him to kill/escort the spider OUT of the house. I really feel like I did my best in hiding this fear. But when my husband went to London, he brought back a book called "Aaargh, Spider!." I think he thought it was a cute book and would get our kids to actually LIKE spiders. Well it did the opposite. V is now officially terrified of them. In the bathtub especially. And let me tell you, those little black lint pieces that come out in the water from the cute little toes-look exactly like spiders!

CLEANING LADY

The cleaning lady shows up on Tuesdays and Thursdays at school. The days my daughter goes to school is Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But two weeks ago the cleaning lady started coming on Fridays. Oh boy. As soon as V saw her she started to cry. She wanted "that lady" to leave. Is it the fact that she is using sponges, is Spanish, using Clorox? What could it be? The teachers assured V that she is only there to clean the school. I think V could care less and wouldn't mind a dirty toilet. :)

SLEEPING IS SCARY?

This book Grandpa bought for V's little brother, R. It's quite a benign book (in my opinion) but what do I know!? Every time V sees this book she gets upset. She wants it to go back to Boston. Grandpa lives in Boston. I asked V what was it about the book that upset her? She said she didn't like that the boy goes to sleep. Then continued the sentence with, "and I don't like the napping house. I don't want that book or the napping house." I replied with, "so you don't like books with sleeping people in them?" And she said, "yes I don't like them sleeping." She started to cry wanting this book away-to go away. Far away. Back to Boston.

FEAR THE KING

Purim. King. Fear. "I don't like the finger puppet with the dots on his face! I don't want the King!" Another reason to fear going to school. Thank goodness Purim is soon over. We won't have to check for Kings until next year. Tears for fears. Yes.

The Music Teacher

A terrified girl. An Israeli guitarist with the best intentions. The relationship never got off to a good start. It ended one month later. The school decided to let go of this music teacher claiming she wasn't right for the students anyway. Well, V was the only one so frightened of this woman (who was pretty intimidating to me- her face, voice were not warm and fuzzy!) but the school insisted they were going to find someone else anyway. "I don't like the music teacher" was a daily chant for a couple of months. The chant was recited up to 50 times a day. We are hoping this doesn't inhibit her love for pursuing an instrument! Grandpa, Papa and Mama all play instruments so it's inevitable. No?

BRUNDIBAR

V was enjoying this book for quite a while. Papa read it to her often. In fact she wanted it read to her over and over again. I always felt it was not age appropriate. But heck, she liked it -so be it. Then one day something changed. She saw a face in the book that she didn't like, trust, know...and that was the end of Brundibar. We hid that one in a dresser drawer. Hopefully V doesn't discover it anytime soon. She thinks Papa took it to work.

THE NAPPING NIGHTMARE

This book has been the worst culprit of them all. The fear that has been mentioned daily for almost two months. V has cried going to school because the fear started in the classroom library. Since we have this book at home, we had to get rid of it altogether. Now, two months later we take V to school but must go in with her and check the library to see that "The Napping House" is not there. Her teacher got rid of it and knows never to bring it in to the classroom again!

Grandma Nut

I thought I would introduce V to the board game of Candyland today! I thought she would LOVE it. She likes this book related to the actual board game called "King Kandy" so I thought she would really get a kick out of the actual game. When I took out all the cards and pieces to the game she definitely was intrigued. We started to "play". It took a while to teach V the rules of the game. As she was taking it all in with her eyes I noticed her facial expression change drastically when she stumbled upon the Brittle lady. She was very upset. Suddenly she didn't want the game in her vision at all. She began to cry and ordered me to give Papa the game to take to work. I packed it up and put it in the dining room. About an hour later she spotted the box and cried. She wanted that box away. I had to take it upstairs. But then later she had a feeling it was upstairs and was scared to go up there. I told her I brought it to our neighbors house and that tomorrow Papa will bring it to work. Oh well. I thought it was a fun game :(

Wheels on the Bus Book

The busdriver's nose. That is the fear. My daughter cried upon seeing it and didn't even want to walk past the bookshelf. She told me she didn't like the nose. She wants Papa to take the book to work.