monsters and ghosties and trolls...

[twiglett]

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We shout "SHOO MONSTER" and if there's one under the bed I get my broom and wiggle it around and tell the monster "there'll be no eating of children in this house".

Come to think of it I must look absolutley crackers doing this but if it helps dd get to sleep who cares.

And yes to dd the monsters were real.

I'm sure all imagination is a great thing to nurture in young children.
If they do get scared, then as long as they know they've got someone who'll stomp on the monsters for them, then they'll be fine.
Your ds is sure his monsters are real and telling him he's wrong may only make him less likely to chase them away with such enthusiasm. He might just get confused if he gets the idea you don't believe him.
Talk to him about his fantastic imagination and everything he can do with it, rather than stifling it.

I'm sure all imagination is a great thing to nurture in young children.

If they do get scared, then as long as they know they've got someone who'll stomp on the monsters for them, then they'll be fine.

Your ds is sure his monsters are real and telling him he's wrong may only make him less likely to chase them away with such enthusiasm. He might just get confused if he gets the idea you don't believe him.

Talk to him about his fantastic imagination and everything he can do with it, rather than stifling it.

bizarre preview

I've always done the opposite. I've always reasssured and explained, firmly, that monsters, witches, ghosts etc. don't exist and it always seemed to work.

ds (2 and 4 months) is scared of dragons (no idea where he's got the idea from) at the moment. We've had a long discussion about Tigger (his toy of choice for bed) being an excellent dragon fighter and the way to scare them is to say "one, two, three...... BOO!" He thinks this is great fun, and seems to worry about dragons far less now.

I only hope all his future fears will be as easy to deal with. I suspect not.

DD (who is 2.5) is currently scared of badgers (!)

We have a badger set near the house, and the cubs come into the garden at night (well after she's gone to bed) to play. DH was out watering the garden at about 11pm once, and suddenly, out they popped from a bush.

Anyway, he did his 'let's introduce her to nature' bit, by telling her all about them the next morning, thinking she'd find this cute and cuddly. Unfortunately, we had a problem from them on at bedtime. She finally admitted that she was scared of the badgers, and worried they would get into the house. She asked dh to put the stairgate across her door to stop them coming into her bedroom - poor thing.

Eventually, dh went out into the garden, and had a very loud conversation with the 'badgers' - having left her bedroom window open so she could hear. He told them very nicely that Megan wanted to go to sleep and would they please go away to someone else's garden. What the neighbours thought if they heard him I don't know, but it did the trick for dd. Now we just have to repeat what daddy said to the badgers a few times before bed, and she's OK.

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I used to be scared of the stairs - can't remember how we got over this one!

When one of my dds became scared of monsters I did what Georgina did and told her that her big teddy was going to stay awake all night and guard her. She swallowed it hook, line and sinker.