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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

what scares your toddler?

79 replies

alilang · 17/02/2008 21:57

My little boy is 2.2 yrs old and has suddenly started being scared of the oddest things. The Gruffalo (a story he used to love) has apparently taken up residence in our hallway and this is very much not a good thing.
Turkeys and dragons are also on the new no-no list and require banishing from the bedroom at nighttime after he saw a turkey at Battersea zoo (admittedly it was really ugly; freaked me out a bit) and the dragons/lions dances we saw when went to look at the celebrations for Chinese New Year.
What are your little ones fears? And how do you help banish them?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

annoyingdevil · 17/02/2008 23:05

Not much, except for wolves. She received a lot of old fashioned ladybird books for Xmas. We've had to hide the wolfy ones!

expatinscotland · 17/02/2008 23:06

the hairdryer and the hoover

satine · 17/02/2008 23:07

We went to the Maze at Hampton Court Palace recently and my dd said "Will there be balloons or Father Christmas?"
These are the two most terrfiying things she knows

nancy75 · 17/02/2008 23:11

the hoover, the hairdryer, pretty much any electrical item and pirates (not so much of a problem as i dont have many pirates in the house) fireworks, a cuddle always makes it better but i dont think you can banish irational fears, once they get something in their mad little heads thats it!

DualCycloneCod · 17/02/2008 23:11

Swiper the fox

snotbuster · 17/02/2008 23:21

fireworks also (fair enough) but came home from nursery the other day saying he was scared of owls..

colditz · 17/02/2008 23:22

One of the sofa cushions.

"Nooooooo! Mama, Noooooooo!"

colditz · 17/02/2008 23:22

And the Shape Shifter from NumberJacks scares my big tough nearly 5 year old!

nancy75 · 17/02/2008 23:24

just one of the sofa cushions?!? i thought it was only my dd that was a loon - obviously they all are!

shabster · 17/02/2008 23:27

my 4th DS (now 10 yrs) used to be petrified of Sooty, the bear and lion poem off Teletubbies and (wait for it) Sophie Ellis Bexter!!!!!

Now he still remembers all those fears! Last July he broke his wrist jumping down from the monkey bars on our local park and he wont even discuss anything medical!!

brimfull · 17/02/2008 23:28

ds 5 is scared of

the car wash
parades with marching bands
large amounts of bubblebath
remote control tarantula he got for xmas

cadelaide · 17/02/2008 23:28

Ds, 19m, is terrified of Justin/mr tumble when he is being a baby, you know, that head in a pram thing.
Seems entirely reasonable to me.

mollymawk · 17/02/2008 23:29

DS2 - age 2.7 - has many screen-based fears eg:
Katie Nanna and the Admiral next door in Mary Poppins
The scene in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where Dick van Dyke wears a rocket suit
but these just require me to sit with him while they are on.
Also a "naughty zebra" (which "might eat me") in a picture on his toybox but as long as it is covered up when he goes to bed that is ok apparently.
(colditz your LO's fear is v.sweet!)

deeeja · 17/02/2008 23:29

Shape Shifter and Puzzler from Numberjacks, hairdryers, vacuum cleaner, fireworks,
and my ds3 is afraid of balloons.

mrsruffallo · 17/02/2008 23:29

Thank you for this thread!!!
It is good to know you are not alone. My nearly 2 year old is terrified of bears- stems from 'we're going on a bear hunt' which he used to love.
He says he hears a bear and we have to go out into the hallway and open the cupboards to show him it's not there.
When we have guests the first thing he does is tell then about the bear in the dark.

NickiSue · 17/02/2008 23:31

The blob from Numberjacks
Sellotape (or its sound)
And the tickle monster

mollymawk · 17/02/2008 23:34

Clearly Numberjacks is way too scary. I shall write in...

AitchTwoOh · 17/02/2008 23:36

cadelaide, my dd actually pissed herself she was so frightened of baby tumble. she screamed and screamed (i thought she'd chopped her arm off or something) and she talked about it for weeks afterwards.

mawbroon · 17/02/2008 23:37

DS is terrified of Santa - I had to take some santa jammies that he was given at christmas time back to the shop because he was hysterical at even the mere mention of them.

And also he is frightened of shirts. He has a shirt that he has had for about a year and all of a sudden he is terrified of it. How odd....

mollymawk · 17/02/2008 23:42

My little brother (now grown up and not little at all) used to be scared of the green stalks on tomatoes.

mehdismummy · 18/02/2008 00:07

hairdryer. Some hoovers but not all! The noise a balloon makes when rubbed or if its let go. Dh when he just gets in from work. Last seconds ! Lol at nancy and pirates!

slng · 18/02/2008 08:39

Baby Mozart dvd scared both kids when they were (3 & 1)! No budding musicians then ...

thequietone · 18/02/2008 08:42

The book "Where the wild things are". DS got it for Christmas and we had a run of terrified screaming in the middle of the night. Said book has now been banished to the top of our cupboard for another year.

GooseyLoosey · 18/02/2008 08:43

dd(3) is scared of fireworks and ds (4)

ds is not scared of anything as far as I can tell (except, on occasion, me )

mufti · 18/02/2008 08:49

the haa hoo's
dyson
me using the hair clippers on dh got him quite hysterical
shower attachment on bath, using , not the thing itself

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