How to help DD get over fear of the hoover

[Gabby10]

My DD is 20mo and in the last month has become scared of the hoover. We have 2 hoovers one that charges on the wall and then a Henry hoover. It's too the point now where the one on the wall has to be hidden behind the curtain and the Henry has a sheet over it. She won't even go in the room if she can see it and cries her eyes out. Is there anything I can do to help her get over this fear? Any advice would be great.

Stop hiding it so she gets used to seeing it. Push it round without it being switched on and let her have a go as part of a game (she could be helping you to clean) and continue using it as normal. She’ll get used to it in time.

You have to stop hiding them!

Don’t make a big deal of it - just - the hoover’s not going to hurt you, come and sit on my lap, then she’ll get used to it.

I’m presuming the fear is about noise, so once she’s happy with it being around, get her used to the sound of it in a different part of the house

Buy her a desk Henry hoover 'for her teddies' and get her to help hoover up little spills with it? Make it into a game that you both hoover at the same time? Tell her it's not surprising she didn't like the hoover when she was a baby because they are quite noisy, but now she's a big girl so she can have her own hoover too and see they aren't really scary?

Stop covering it. Play hoovering, role play teddy being scared then calming down. Hoover your foot and laugh about it. And give her a warning then hoover in another room. Teach her to cover her ears if a noise is too loud.

Avoiding it will make her fear worse, you need to expose her to it and comfort her through.

Get her one of these to play with, show her there's nothing to be afraid of. It even makes a fake hoover sound (much much lower than the real thing!).

www.argos.co.uk/product/3837926