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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?

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midnightexpress · 18/02/2008 08:57

ds1 (2.3) tells me:

'DS1 is not keen on feathers, hoovers and crusts'.

I don't think he's actually scared of crusts.

We overcame the hoover thing gradually - he went from blind terror to sitting at the far end of a different room, to the point where he'll now venture out and 'help' me with it, so I think we have tamed that particular beast.

He doesn't like deflated balloons either.

But he loves fireworks and rockets.

midnightexpress · 18/02/2008 08:58

Oh and car washes, yes. He hates those too, especially 'the brushy car wash' (as opposed to the one where the nice man squirts the car with his power hose).

melpomene · 18/02/2008 09:01

When dd1 was 2 she drew a spider on our laminate floor, and then became hysterical because she was scared of her own drawing.

Bellie · 18/02/2008 09:10

dd is scared of pirates and spooky spoon from the numberjacks.

Also petrified of hospital. (no major reason to be, just that she had to go in the middle of the night once and since then refuses to speak about it or if mentioned starts shouting NO NO NO)

midnightexpress · 18/02/2008 09:15

..and you should have heard the fuss when the stone got stuck in Makka-Pakka's trumpet the other day. it is still discussed.

chopster · 18/02/2008 09:19

black sacks. Really. I was putting one in the bin and dt2 got a look of pure terror on his face and ran off saying, 'Please don't put me in there, mummy!' WTF?!

GroovyChic · 18/02/2008 10:07

My ds (3.1) is scared of fireworks and spiders.

hattyyellow · 18/02/2008 10:14

The hoover...

My hairdryer...

The green bits on tomatoes and oranges that ARE spiders..

Carnival · 18/02/2008 10:20

DD (3.2) is scared of Jack Frost (the cold), "he's nibbling at my toes, Mummy".

lollipopmother · 18/02/2008 10:21

Just to let you know, my partner is still scared of the car wash and he's 26!

MoosMa · 18/02/2008 11:00

DD1 (2.5) is absultely terrified of drills, (understandable I think) or anything that looks remotely like one. She ran away from the swings last week (unheard of) because there were some boys playing with toy guns and she thought they were drills.

Desiderata · 18/02/2008 11:21

Carol singers. This Christmas, ds threatened to 'bow and arrow' them, before running away to hide.

The Incredible Hulk, who he refers to as the 'Increditable Oak.'

My2Weegirls · 18/02/2008 11:22

santa

Bubbaloo · 18/02/2008 12:44

Ds1(2.8)is petried of ds2's Fisher Price animal train.He'll happily play with it but if anyone turns it on,he'll go potty and scream the place down til it's turned off.

EffiePerine · 18/02/2008 12:46

hairdryer
hoover
washing machines
electric toothbrish
cutting his hair

fryalot · 18/02/2008 12:46

dd2 (3.8) is scared of most things.

The thing that really gets her into absolute hysterical screaming mode though is feathers.

yup, feathers!

rebelmum1 · 18/02/2008 12:52

interesting thread as last night my dd, 3 came in my room and said she was scared, she was frightened of all the shapes and we had to put the light on, she thought there was a spider and jumped out of bed screaming, she slept clinging to me.. is this a normal stage of awareness?

midnightexpress · 18/02/2008 13:35

squonk ds1 hates feathers too. He makes me move even teeny tiny ones that come out of a pillow before he will move past them. I noticed that they'd done some collage involving feathers at nursery so the poor little sausage had probably toughed it out because he'd done one too.

Kewcumber · 18/02/2008 13:36

ice cubes and fish (along with the usual hoovers hairdryers etc)

Kewcumber · 18/02/2008 13:38

have you tried a "monster spray" - water (scented with some kind of oil) in a spray bottle and a lable with a monster crossed out on the front. Works a treat on gruffalos I hear.

pelvicflawed · 18/02/2008 16:49

Horse stables - we took DS to visit a friends stables and we were up all night with a screaming child anytime anyone left the room!!!! We had a phase of Henry Hoover phobia (only Henrys!) but we are over that. A bad mummy suggested going to a firework display last 5/11 but we paid for our mistake......

Minkus · 18/02/2008 17:04

cadelaide and aitchtwooh my ds was really scared by baby tumble too, and quite a few of my friends lo's have been as well! But then I suppose a disembodied head crying in a pram is a bit wierd

BettySpaghetti · 18/02/2008 17:10

DS (3.8) is currently scared of spiders.

In the past hes been scared of baths, flies and Granny Murray from Me Too (the mere sight of her would have him hiding and begging for me to turn the TV off).

As a toddler DD was petrified of the hoover and even now, aged 8, will avoid being in the same room if she can if I'm hoovering.

Original poster
alilang · 18/02/2008 17:12

kewcumber - what a great idea, thanks, I'm going to give it a go.

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Original poster
alilang · 18/02/2008 17:28

how funny - just posted here and then went into kitchen to whizz up some breadcrumbs with the hand held blender. Cue tears and cries of "no mama, all done, all done."
So I can add the blender to his (evergrowing!) list.

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