My DS is normally such a confident, happy go lucky little boy, but very recently he's talking about being 'worried' and 'scared' about things. Most of the time, it's just fairly trivial things and, with an explanation and a cuddle, he's reassured.
Last week, however, he had a complete meltdown at pre-school. Another little boy was wearing a Spiderman mask, and DS absolutely hated it, bursting into tears and running away. The staff said it took quite some time to reassure him that everything was OK. Over the weekend, we explained who Spiderman was, that he was a good man, and that it was just one of his friends wearing a mask pretending to rescue people. That seemed to work.
But today, he's had a similar meltdown at nursery when another child was wearing a duck mask. It really does seem to be the fact that the person's face is covered, and nothing to do with how frightening (or not) the mask is.
He's already showing an aversion to the Halloween displays starting to appear in the shops. I want to deal with this in a way that acknowledges his worries, but doesn't build them up in a way that suggests there is something very real to worry about. It's a very fine balance. We've already suggested that he makes his own mask of Tree Fu Tom (the current fave), but he really doesn't want to, and I don't want to push it just now.
So, has anyone been there, and how did you deal with it? Thanks!
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Behaviour/development
3yo DS is scared of masks - anyone been there?
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notjustamummythankyou · 03/10/2012 18:29
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