This week’s question comes from Eva Fannon, who asks…

What are your kids afraid of and how do you comfort them?”

Here are some things that are World Moms Blog writers do…

Karyn Van Der Zwet of New Zealand writes:
“The Hare, who is nine, is afraid of the dark.  The Owl was afraid of e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g and now is just sometimes cautious.  The Butterfly hates the vacuum cleaner with a vengeance.  We bed-share (five in two queen sized beds) and use something called Boring Cuddles (Diane Levy, Kiwi family therapist)…where you hold your child (at their request) but never ever say anything or even make any noise.  You can rock, rub or pat.  They are fantastic.  Can’t recommend them enough.”

Maggie Ellison of South Carolina, USA writes:
“In the past year, my son has started to hate thunderstorms.  Our house, or somewhere very close to our house, was struck and the alarms started blaring, the kids electric toys were making all kinds of noises and we lost power.  We heard a huge bang and crack outside too.  It was pretty freaky and scared him so much that any rumble from the sky and he holds his ears and crawls into a ball either on me or right next to me.

We get a good bit of thunderstorms here, too.  His arms will ache from holding his ears so much and he won’t let me hold them for him and he won’t use noise reducing headphones.  He has to check the weather every few minutes to see if the radar has changed.  I hold and comfort him as much as possible.  I put the music or TV louder to mask some of the noise.  We make our own music.  I try to distract him with other fun stuff. 

We have tried to explain why some thunder is louder than others and how storms work.  We’ve come up with silly explanations, like the angels are bowling.  I offered to make him a thunder cubby in the closet under the stairs.  So far, none of that has helped very much, but what has helped is a combination of fact and silly.  (Oh, my hubby will be so pleased I am sharing this!)  We have talked about how the loudest thunder happens when the storm is above us and we have made pictures, models, etc.  So with that background, we have decided that daddy’s fart (jokingly!) are louder than thunder that is not over us.  So, if we can handle daddy’s fart (giggle, giggle), we can leave our hands off our ears until the storm gets closer.  My husband just loves this, let me tell you.  But, he is willing to take one for the team and be the butt of our joke if it helps our son.  So now, first sign of thunder, we laugh and say, “Daddy farts louder,” and then we tease Daddy.  We all laugh and my son cautiously takes his hands away.  He is still stressed, but it is easing a little.”

Veronica Samuels of New Jersey, USA writes:
“My daughter is afraid of monsters.  I’ve spent a lot of time telling her that monsters don’t exist.  To comfort her, I turn on her lights to prove they’re not there and tell her to dream of happy things.  Hugs help a lot, too!”

DC Blogmama of Washington, DC, USA writes:
“Our daughter is afraid of dogs and squirrels.   And I don’t blame her regarding the latter, they seem to be more populous on our block than actual people!  There are many dogs in our neighborhood too.  At the same time, she is always excited (in a good way) when she sees a dog — she just wants to keep a safe distance.  If a dog (or squirrel) gets too close for comfort, I tell her it’s okay and that I’m right there and that it won’t hurt her.  She still freaks out a little and gets clingy but I’m hopeful this will get better with age…though I haven’t gotten over the squirrel thing myself.”

Courtney Cappallo of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“My oldest daughter was not afraid of anything until this past November.  She is five-years-old.  In November we studied Marie Antoinette, as her birthday is in November.  I had my daughter make her own elaborate Marie Antoinette wig.  I talked with my daughter about Marie Antoinette’s history and how she was beheaded.  My daughter was horrified.  She is now terrified that her head is going to fall off.  Big mistake on my part.  To comfort her I just hold her and tell her she and everyone else is going to be fine and that her head won’t come off.  I feel awful that she worries now, where as before she never worried about anything.”

Tara B. of Washington State, USA writes:
“One of my sons is skittish about play fighting and toy weapons (for more details on his concerns and our method of supporting him, see my post from February: http://worldmomsblog.com/2011/02/21/wausa-boys-will-be-boys/).  I also have a son who seems hardly afraid of anything.  Yet the one thing that terrifies them both is Tickle Me Elmo.  This doll sends them into hysterics.  It was a generous gift from a friend, and we tried to make it fun.  However, we decided this was not a battle we needed to fight and sent Elmo on his way to a donation center.”

It’s your turn readers…what are your kids afraid of and how do you comfort them?

And don’t forget, if you have a question you would like to pose to our WMB writers, email us at wmbsidebareditor@gmail.com to see what they have to say.

Come back on Sunday to check out next week’s travel itinerary!

– World Moms Blog

Photo credit to D. Sharon Pruitt  http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/206812690/.   This photo has a creative commons attribute license.

World Moms Blog

World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children. World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.

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