Hi all,
my 3 (nearly 4) year old daughter has a growing list of things she is petrified of and it’s starting to really restrict our lives.
first it was balloons - she can’t even be in a room with a deflated balloon now without screaming and clinging onto our legs so I can’t take her to any parties without a big scene.
Now it’s cats and dogs - screams if she even sees one and honestly it just escalates until you remove her from the situation. It’s not possible to ignore the screaming it’s so manic / frenzied and any attempt to calm or distract just fails because she will not engage/listen. Her focus is only on the thing she is scared of.
I can see that it’s totally fear based so I’m sympathic but I also want to scream myself. Try not to get annoyed but it’s impossible. I’m at a total loss now what to do. We’ve got to the point where we cannot go to any family celebrations or any family houses as they all have pets and no parties in case of balloons.
she is quite a shy child and at nursery she’s attached herself to just one child and doesn’t really play with anyone else. Other than that she’s fairly normal but I do think she has some major anxiety issues going on.
has anyone been through this and how did they resolve it? Is this something now where we should consider getting professional help?
thanks all for any advice.