fears

"No such thing as silly monsters?"  This is the question that I answer every night before A goes to sleep.  She actually usually calls me back up to her room to ask again at least one other time.  At first, I thought it was just a stall for bedtime, but I have come to realize that she is REALLY afraid of silly monsters.  I'm not sure where this came from.  I'm also not sure where her fear of haircuts, water, any man working on our house, or cars that are at least a block away have come from.  But, these fears are real and have a definite impact on our day. 

Today, she gripped my leg and screamed b/c there was a car heading towards a stop sign totally across the parking lot from us.  Don't get me wrong, I do think there is a healthy dose of fear to keep her from running into the street, but the death grip is a little over the top. 

The haircut fear led to a after a 3 week battle that ended when she could no longer see through her bangs. 

She has gotten her haircut about 7 or 8 times in the last year and been fine going across the street to the good ole hair cuttery. This last time, she freaked out and started screaming. I must have looked at her like she was nuts because I couldn't figure out why she was crying. She finally said it was because Daddy wasn't with her. Well, Daddy has never taken her to get a haircut (that is a whole other entry on fears) but, I didn't fight it and force her to get a cut. So, she and Daddy went back a few days later and she did the same thing. She did, however, sit nicely while she watched him get it cut. Last Saturday, as I brushed her hair out of her eyes for the 100th time before 8:00 am, I decided enough was enough. I showed her pictures of herself last year

July, 2010- no fear

 I then said she had a choice to go to the hair cuttery or go sit in a car for the cut.  I thought this would motivate even though I was not excited about spending $20 for a trim on an almost 3 year old.  the crying continued for a good hour as we got ready, drove to the store etc.  We got in the store and she saw a train set and everything was fine.  No crying no fighting.  Just your everyday happy girl eating animal crackers while sitting in a car for a haircut.

The stranger fear is probably the worst.  Again, I think there is a healthy dose of fear when it comes to people you don't know.  However, when we had a guy come to our house to powerwash our deck, you would have thought I was bringing a man to murder my daughter.  My first plan was to have her watch with me so that she would know nothing bad would happen.

But, I got bored after about 5 minutes and figured she was probably desensitized.  I was wrong.  She SCREAMED as soon as I got up from the chair and clung to my leg for the next 40ish minutes before I decided we should just leave the house.  She still asks me on a daily basis, "Is the man coming to get our deck?"

I don't really know what to do about these new found fears except hope that they are just a stage.  After all, I don't know many teenage girls asking their moms about monsters, scared of boys with shaggy hair.  On second thought, maybe I'll keep the fears...