• nighttime fears night lightMy son has reached that magical age where he is fully aware of his surroundings. His independence has made him willful and opinionated. With all this comes new fears. He fears the unknown, mommy and daddy leaving, strange things on the TV.

    Who knows what else.

    All I know is that he now wakes up in the middle of the night crying and tells me he is scared. Talk about absolutely heart breaking! Lots of kids go through this stage. Both of mine so far have trudged through it. With my daughter we used reasoning and logic, talking about the things she was afraid of. She was a little bit older than my son, so this isn’t an option here.

    Our plan of attack so far has been to acknowledge his fear and remind him that we are here

    If your child goes through a stage where they fear all sorts of things, it is so important to remember that those fears are so real to them. Even if they seem quite silly to you. Fear of the vacuum for example, you know it’s nothing to be afraid of, but to a small human that’s a big machine that makes a sinister sound. I have done my best to avoid telling my kids that there is nothing to be afraid of, but instead trying to pinpoint exactly what it is that frightens them and explain whatever it is in simple terms to them.

    With the vacuum I sat with my daughter and talked about the motor, and then we had a blast spreading out flour for us to vacuum up. Here we are again with my son, and he’s not afraid of the vacuum, but instead some strange thing that wakes him in the night. Our plan of attack so far has been to acknowledge his fear and remind him that we are here. First from his crib side, then from his door. The last few nights he has woken up, but been able to soothe himself within minutes.

    It appears that our tactics have worked so far, and I’m hoping will continue to work.