I have a 6 year old son who has usually been very confident and independent- but this summer things have started to change a LOT. It started with not going upstairs on his own , he's always been a little scared of the dark so wouldn't go up then unless I turned the light on and stood at the bottom but now he won't go up even in the day time. He won't go downstairs on his own in the morning. I always tell him everything will be fine and he doesn't seem to know why he's feeling scared .
Now I've noticed he doesn't openly tell me he's scared, he makes up another excuse instead. Last night I left him in his room to sleep and told him I'm just going to change my clothes and that I'll be back. He was clearly frightened of being left alone and asked if he could come and see my room for a bit. Or if he wants to go up stairs he'll tell me he wants to show me a toy or something he's made. I do wonder if that's because we keep telling him he'll be fine and encourage him to go up on his own. Maybe he just thinks it's easier to lie about it so then he won't have to listen to us telling him to be brave. Anyone else experience this? Or have tried and tested ways of beating this fear of being alone ?
I spent the whole summer dealing with this and it's getting worse and worse. He won't let me go to the kitchen while he's in the living room a few steps away (we live in a tiny flat) he sits on the floor outside the door when I'm in the toilet , some times even asking to come inside - I never let him. He's having a lot of fears about going in to year 2 at school tomorrow and usually he's quite excited to be going up a year and getting "grown up".
Any advice appreciated ! Thanks
