Scared of men!

[Peggotty]

My DD (20months) is scared of men! She hides, and sometimes cries, whenever a man looks at her or tries to speak to her, and sometimes just when they walk past her! I am guessing it is just a phase. She's even scared of some men on t.v (Chris from CBeebies fgs!!!) It's worse if they are tall/deep voiced etc. My DH - bless him - isn't very 'manly' iykwim. Not particularily tall/deep voiced etc. I suppose she doesn't have a lot of contact with men in her everyday life, but what toddlers do? She sees my DH for a short time in the morning before he goes to work, and only about half an hour to an hour at the most in the evening before bedtime. Will this phase pass? I'm not comfortable around men myself (another kettle of fish entirely) and I suppose I am worried it's rubbing off on her...

[Troutpout]

dd was the same....
Even now she is just generally very wary of men and when she was little she would get very upset around particular men (big loud ones usually...or ones which looked very different to dh)
It's a phase....she'll improve

[Peggotty]

Thanks for that - like your name! - my dd's really sociable in other ways so I'm not overly worried about it, just needed a little reassurance.

[Sugarmagnolia]

My dd was like this when she was a toddler with the husband of the woman who ran our mum & toddler group - he was very tall with lots of black hair and a long black beard and she was terrified! She quite likes him now. And my friend's dd does this with my FIL - no one else, only him. He's also kind of big with lots of bushy black hair so I'm thinking maybe it's the hair! She's totally lovely and sociable in every other situation so I'm sure she'll grow out of it too.

[misdee]

dd2 was the same, but she adored black men. would positively light up if she saw a black man and would cling to them.