DS is afraid of everything!

Hes 29 months old and its getting so frustrating to take him anywhere that is fun...We went to the beach today and he screamed cause he didnt like the sand....so we couldnt go, which isnt fair cause DD loves it....we took them on rides....he did manage to go on some.....but the rest he just refused (didnt force him) if he gets really scared he either clings to me or crawls up in a ball and just stares without moving...Do you think he will out grow it....

 

I sure hope so. It's not quite the same thing, but my girls are petrified of sounds. Airplanes, cars going by, lawn mowers, tractors, even birds sometimes. We live on a farm without animals and one day they came running and screaming to me. When I finally got them to calm down, they told me they were scared of the cows. Huh? I listened REALLY hard and sure enough, you can very faintly hear the cows that are a mile away. It's insane. They seriously shake and scream hysterically when I need to vacuum. Because they are so scared I hardly ever vacuum if I can avoid it, but I broke glass and had to make sure it was cleaned up. Their fears of sounds are really limiting us. This week we have hardly been able to be outside because they are spraying crops and they can't stand to be outside if they can hear the airplane. We can still hear it inside, but they seem a little more at ease in the house. We keep talking about how sounds can't hurt us and I keep trying to expose them to these things a little at a time (I made them go outside for 15 minutes today), but I don't want to traumatize them either because their fears are quite real to them. I was actually going to make a post about this, so I'm glad you brought it up. I hope your little guy starts to get over some of his fears soon.

 

wow, that is debilitating. we live on a lake and on the weekends like to take it out and just float and get the kids in the water and splash about etc. they wear life jackets, and my dd loves it, my ds used to like it last summer, but at the beginning of this summer he screamed bloody murder! its been several months and finally 2 wks ago he got on the back ledge and splashed his feet. last week, after going to a pool the week before and having fun, he did finally get out on the back ledge and jump into the lake to our arms. finally! at least this is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We didn't force him, and just kept asking if he wanted to go... finally it was his decision.

though he's recently gotten freaked out by dogs... so maybe its always something... I think talking about what it is they are scared about and why they would be scared might be good to do... to validate their feelings... I like the part of talking up the part of the sounds not hurting them and exposing them a little at a time... good ideas.

 

My nephew was like this. He used to like dogs, but then he became afraid of them, and water, and rides, and well, just about everything like you said. He did eventually grow out of it, but you have to be patient and go slow as you re-introduce him to some of the things that currently scare him. Don't push him too fast as you slowly introduce him to some of these things. Let him see how much fun his sister is having in the sand. If someone can watch him while you go on rides, let him see the fun you are having. Always ask him to join in. Let him go at his own pace. You just need to be encouraging as he decides to be brave and give whatever it is he's afraid of a chance. If it's a monster at night time, then maybe include a ritual at night like a saying that scares off the scary monster. Something he can say one day if he's scared of something. Something like that can make him feel empowered and less frightened of unknown things.

 

I have seen a couple of my kids go through similar phases (Luke is somewhat like that now, he is very, very cautious about absolutely everything). I don't know for sure but my theory is that they are just starting to figure out there is a big world out there & some things in it can hurt them, so they get frightened easily. My kids have always outgrown it, although the ones who have been that way have remained fairly cautious, they aren't huge risk takers like their other siblings, but they aren't absolutely scared of everything anymore.

 

Mine use to cry with vaccuum or any similar noise. We would just warn them and then do what you need to do. They have out grown it. I think most kids think the feeling of sand is weird, mine did too the first few times we went, but slowly get used to it. hopefully it will get better.