To tell the teacher about a classmate talking about scary stories?

[Fffffffffs]

Dd7 scares very easily and always has done but over the last few years it has been getting worse and she can't ever be on her own in a room even for a few seconds. She says she gets scary thoughts in her head and gets herself into a panic. I am looking into how to get her professional help as nothing we have tried seems to help.

What hasn't helped is that one of her friends has been telling her scary stories that she apparently has heard from a cousin. I've looked up some of them and it's seriously creepy stuff. Blue baby, huggy wuggy, etc. I'd briefly mentioned it to her mum as I thought she might want to know if someone is telling her daughter about age inappropriate things but mostly I thought we need to teach DD how to cope with her fears rather than police what other kids say and most kids seem to love zombie stories, etc. Apparently the girl is still taking about these stories. DD has asked her not to tell her and walks away when she does but sometimes can't help overhear. And really it just takes a snippet or a word to trigger her fears.

I'm wondering if I should tell their teacher. It seems to be affecting their other friend as well (though I assume not to the same extent as DD but who knows) and I feel that compared to the usual zombie stuff these particular stories are on another level. But then I think that kids will talk about all kinds of stuff and I can't really protect DD from that and what could the teacher realistically do. DD herself does want me to talk to the teacher about it.

What would you do? Thanks for reading and for any advice.

I would mention it.

Your DD dies want you to mention it, so I would.

Absolutely tell the teacher, I’ve had many parents tell me things like this over my years of teacher and I’ve been able to alleviate fears and help the children feel safe. Your daughter is able to express to you that she’s frightened, they’ll be children in the class who are not and it will be sitting with them, the child telling her may be internalising her fear and want it spoken about. You’d be doing me a favour as I can then look out for all! Please do tell.

As a teacher I'd be concerned about the other child so I'd appreciate knowing about it. A child once told me her brother was showing her scary films and she didn't like it. I spoke to her Mum who denied it could possibly be happening but the next day the child told me her brother wasn't allowed to watch them any more. Job done.

The child telling your child these stories might be doing it out of bravado and be quite disturbed by them themself.

Ok I will. Should I tell the teacher the name of the child? I don't want her to get into trouble and I don't want her mum to hold it against me.

Yes I would not to get her in trouble but so the teacher can check in that she’s ok too. At 7 years old no sensible teacher would be angry, just concerned about what they’re seeing and how to ensure that the rest of the class feel safe. I’d want to know if I was the girls parent because it could be she’s frightened too and is passing it all on!

I'd mention it. 7 is little. I'd also indicate the origin of these stories.

We had this in primary school too, and part of it was that certain kids had completely unsupervised internet access and took absolute delight in relating FNAF stories to their friends, resulting in tears at bedtime for bloody weeks. I can't remember if I told the teacher about the FNAF incident, but there was something I did tell her about (maybe Squid Game?) and the teacher definitely spoke to some of the parents about what the hell their kids were watching at home and it seemed to stop.

(And it was always the highly educated, super lovely and laid back but "we trust our children to be sensible" parents whose kids were watching - and sharing - the most hair-raising stuff 😡).

And that BLOODY huggy wuggy/poppy playtime!!! That led to more weeks of worry.

The bravado thing is what I assumed too - the kids who were sharing it in my dd's class had older siblings where I assume it all originated - and I can only assume it was scaring the life out of them too, but they were trying to diffuse it by telling their friends.

The number of kids in dd's class who were allowed to watch Squid Game was astonishing. The school had to send out a stern email that spelled out that THIS IS NOT FOR CHILDREN.

By origin of the stories do you mean mention the girl by name? Or who posted / spread these stories online originally? Hm I don't know and frankly, I don't want to Google them again. Even I find them creepy. 😕

I mean the child in the class who is telling everyone else.

You need to name the child so the teacher can try to help them.