4 yr old scared of everything!

[nethunsreject]

My pfb is 4 and 9mths. He is quite a fearty. He used to be scared of dogs, but is now scared of the dark, spiders and even bloody flies!
None of us have these fears.
Worst thing is that he is so terrified of dogs that he ran into the road the other day because a dog was barking. It was well under control, btw. A huge lorry came within metres of killing him. He has good road semse normally. He was holding on to his wee brother's pram handle, which he normally never lets go of when we are on a pavement. Luckily the lorry driver was going within the speed limit and was able to slow down and I was able to grab him and lift him back, but it was very scary!

Is he normal? What can I do? Reasoning doesn't work.

Maybe make him walk on the other side of pram (away from road) for safety? As for the fears, dogs is a commom fear. They are loud, and big when you're 4! Not sure about flies though!!

Sorry probably not much help really, just didn't want your post going unnoticed. I'd probably play it down quite a bit if he were mine. I wouldn't draw much attention to it or try and reason with him. I should imagine he'll grow out of most of them. If you are really worried have a chat with hv or doc whilst he's not there.

Hi just googled and found this site:;

www.anxietycare.org.uk/docs/child.asp

covers quite a lot of fears and gives helpful advise on de-sensitising ( spelling?)

Hope it helps.

It's normal. At that age:

DS1 was irrationally scared of chickens.

DD1 was terrified of balloons.

DD2 wasn't scared of anything, still isn't

Thanks all for replies.

Balloons! Poor thing- must have maade parties a nightmare.

Good website.

Ds3 (4.9 years) has recently started being scared of moths and flies to the point of screaming if one flies near him. I wonder if it's an age thing?