Toddler afraid of everything- will she just grow out of it?

[Pozzled]

DD2 will be 2 next week, and is going through a phase where she seems to get scared all the time, by a wide range of different things. They include: anything that makes a load noise, any animals which come close (even if they're behind glass), cars and lorries. I don't remember this with DD1, so really just wondering how I should deal with it, and whether it will pass? At the moment I'm just giving her a cuddle and trying to show her through my attitude that whatever it is won't hurt her.

I had this with DS's (DD was fearless so it was a shock) I dealt with it by being reasonably brisk and not avoiding things that made them scared but carrying on a reassuring monologue followed by distraction 'yes it's a big lorry isn't it, it does make a lot of noise but you're safe on the pavement oh look at the sunshine/rainbow/cat ' said in a brisk no nonsense tone.
I must of sounded completely mad and loud parentingish but it seemed to work. I worked on the principle of teaching my puppy not to be afraid of thunder, if you show lots of sympathy and take them away from the source they think that there is something to be scared of. No idea if that has any basis in fact but it worked for us.

I second Lifeisontheup. This is a good approach, and it does work.

You can't change a sensitive child into a non sensitive child - or an anxious child into a non-anxious one. But you can help her by acknowledging the discomfort, yet neutrally reassuring her that it's nothing to be concerned about.

So the aim is neither to comfort them too much and hence make it a big deal, nor dismiss and minimise their feelings as invalid.

This way they learn to cope with their feelings. It's a kind of exposure therapy in a way. Distraction is also a great technique!

DD was quite timid until the past two months or so when she's into everything - jumping off all sorts of things, feeding animals at the farm, laughing when motorbikes go past etc. She's now 3.6. I think it was partly time (during which I tried to empathise with her but be quite firm (eg yes it was a loud noise which must have surprised you but we can't cry each time a motorbike goes past as we'll never get to nursery. Lets keep our eyes opened so we can see the next motorbike before it goes past us making lots of noise) & just keep repeating. And then came up with the cunning plan of suggesting we met a totally fearless little boy who she adores at the farm, park etc and suddenly she wants to do exactly what he's doing so copied him &, having done it once, there's no holding her back.