Conquering "fear" of bugs/spiders (or whatever) in nearly-4yo?

[PoppyWearer]

A few months ago, nearly-4yo DD started shrieking and telling me she was "afraid" whenever she saw a spider/fly/bee/wasp.

She hasn't got this from home. I come from a rural family And spent my childhood covered in mud raising caterpillars in jars, and am moreover very much NOT one for histrionics or shrieking. I either leave the critters alone or move them carefully (or not) out of our way as needed.

DH and FIL are spider-phobic (to be fair, where DH grew up he had good reason!) but again he has been very careful not to show it in front of her.

I guess she's picked it up from friends at nursery, specifically the shrieking.

If I persist with my calm approach, will she one day snap out of this behaviour, or do I need to take action? Any personal experiences regarding young DCs are welcome!

We do happen to have a bug-hunting kit, so I suppose start with that in the garden?

P.S. she is also very afraid of loud noises but I gather from other threads that is perfectly normal in "sensitive" children at this age.

With my DSs I have just used the keeping calm approach. Getting them to keep quiet and then say "Look it's flown away already".

However, DS1 used to have a phobia of spiral staircases. However he was castle mad (autistic obsession) so it was an issue. We worked on it, very, very slowly. At first I would just carry him up and down one step and then move away. When he could do that without screaming we did more steps. Then we did him walking up and down one step on his own etc etc just building it up very very slowly, and never doing more than we said, so no "Well you've done one step, let's try another", just do the one and move away, so he knew the boundaries wouldn't change.
This could be used for bugs if necessary e.g. lets stand and watch this bee on a leaf from a distance, from a bit nearer etc. Then look at them when they are flying about. Then catch some in the bug catcher...

Thank you.

I think a local zoo does an anti-phobia thing for creepy crawlers, if all else fails.

Anyone else please?

crawlers crawlies!

My dad bribed my sister and I when we were little. We used to get a single sweet if we touched a spider or could choose something like an ice cream if we held one for one minute.

You could start off more gently with one in the bug vase/ vacuum as stage one, releasing as two and touching as three

Interesting!