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View Full Version : Ds is very easily frightened- Any suggestions?



brigmaman
03-15-2004, 06:43 PM
Brig is 19 months and is very easily frightened. Some of the most obvious things he's afraid of are toys that make noise, Baby Einstein videos, the bank, etc.
I'm not even sure some of the time what is scaring him. Last week I brought him into a bank that he's never been in before and he lost it. Yesterday we were parked on the ferry on a steep incline facing the nose of the boat. As soon as we drove on and when it was time to go back to our cars, Brig flipped to the point where he was gagging a bit.
I know I'm supposed to embrace his disposition and personality, but isn't there anything I can do to help him both in the moment, and long term?

I'm just getting nervous because we're going on a plane (I am picturing him screaming the whole time) to Disney next month.

luvbeinmama
03-16-2004, 01:52 AM
Oooo... hard at that age. How much is he talking/communicating? If you know what frightens him, I would talk about it to him trying to make it a familiar/easily understood thing. About the plane trip, you could get a book about airports/airplanes. We have a Richard Scarry book about airports. Kind of outdated, but you get the big picture. Read/explain everything you can ahead of time. And keep re-reading and re-explaining over and over again. That may head off some of the "what's THAT" scares. DS was scared of dogs for the longest time and just recently got over that for the most part. A lot of it is just love on him and reassure him that everything is okay and explain everything you can. It's not something that they get over quickly, though. HTH a little. Good Luck!

egoldber
03-16-2004, 03:49 PM
I second the idea about reading all the books can can about airplanes, airports, etc. Espcially books that have real pictures, not just drawings if you can find them.

Also, did you order the Disney vacation planning video? You can get it for free from their website or by calling Disney. You can then watch it at home. It gives an overview of all the attractions etc. That way he'll get a chance to "see" what the parks are all about. Also, there are visuals of the characters interacting with kids and he'll get a sense of how large the characters are.

Go easy with the characters at first. Some kids freak and some love them. I was a bit worried about my DD the first time we went, since she can be very slow to warm up to new situations, but she adored the characters from the first time we saw them.

Also, watch a lot fo Disney movies. Get him really familiar with some of the popular characters especially those for younger kids like Pooh and friends and the characters from The Lion King. Mickey and Minnie movies are harder to find these days, but for some reason Mickey is DD's absolute fav, even though she really only knows him from the parks!

There was a recent post in the BB Lounge about stuff to do with a 14 month old at Disney. All the stuff I posted there should be OK for a slow to warm up child to do.

I hope you guys have as nice a time as we always do! We LOVE Disney! :)

HTH,

lukkykatt
03-17-2004, 12:58 PM
My older son was the same way. I always used to tell him what we were doing next so he would know what to expect. Also, if we were going somewhere new, or somewhere other children were going to be, I would try to get there early so he would have time to warm up. One of the hardest things was that he would just be warming up to something as it was time to go and then he would have a tantrum because we were leaving - so getting there early helped with that.

You should have seen me one year when he didn't want to switch to short sleeved shirts as it was getting warm. I had to get books from the library about the seasons and the clothes we wear, show him pictures of when he was a baby and wearing short sleeves, etc!

Hang in there, some kids are just more sensitive to their environment. It will get much easier eventually!

newbelly2002
03-26-2004, 05:34 AM
Making a game out of the noises can sometimes help.

It's a tradition over here to set off fireworks for New Years. In the street, next to the store, etc etc, and some of them are BIG. Dante and I had to go out to get take-out that night and fireworks were everywhere. They were loud and bright, and at first Dante looked ready to cry from the noise. As i saw one about to go off I leaned in close to Dante's wagon and said, real excited: "Look! That's a firework. And what do fireworks do? Fireworks go BOOM!" then I smiled and laughed. He looked at me as if I were nuts, of course. But I continued that everytime we saw a firework. By the end of the walk (about 15 minutes) he was giggling and looked at DH when we came in and said: "BOOM!" I've found, with Dante at least, that if you name the problem and show excitement that the world's a game for him.

Good luck with Brigham!
Paula
Mama to Dante, 8/02