Terrified of drains.

My twins (and younger son) have just recently started to be terrified of the drain. It started as the bathtub drain and now it is the bathroom sink drain, kitchen sink drain, sewers, or our furnace grates. I have tried showing them that only water goes down the drain, their toys don't fit, and the drain "locks" when you close it but there really is no reasoning with them. It took me 20 minutes to get them into the bath tub two days ago and all went well until my son accidentally popped the drain cover and all three of them were screaming bloody murder and shaking... it took me another 20 minutes to calm them all down. I let the water drain and showed them that none of their toys went down the drain with the water. Last night, my twin son woke crying and when I went to see what was up, he told me not to put Turtle (his nightlight) in the drain. (I have never threatened to put any of their things down the drain.) Trips to the potty are also a struggle now because now they are scared of the sink drain. I realize that although irrational, this is a very real fear for them and I am just not sure what else to do to calm their fears. I thought there might be a 'drain cover' out on the market I could use but a quick Google search for one came up empty. Anyone have experience with this? Advice?

 

One of my girls has recently developed a crazy fear of bathtub drains. She absolutely freaks out if I open the drain to let the bath water out before I get her out of the bathtub. Sink drains don't seem to bother her. Yet. I'm sure it's a normal phase. At around 2.5 years old, toddlers start developing irrational fears - bogeymen under the bed, etc. This too will pass, right? In the meantime, you can try those soft rubber drain covers, which I think were designed for the kitchen sink to keep small food particles from getting in your drain. They completely cover up the drain hole and plug.

 

i went thru this with mine! it was totally nuts! bathtime was a nightmare! dh had to hold their hands while i bathed them at the speed of light. all i could do was to keep reminding them that they are too big to go down, their toys are too big to go down... that only water and bubbles go down the drain... a few times after bath was over, i threw some of their toys in the tub and pulled the drain and made them see that the toys were NOT going to go down the drain. nothing really helped. lol! after a time (few months, really), they got over it. it's just one of their millions of crazy phases, i guess!

 

I went through this with my son. We reassured him that he could not go down the drain, neither can toys, neither could his sister but it was a phase he just had to pass through.

 

I'm not quite sure how this would work with a fear of drains, but I've had success with other fears (e.g. dogs) with starting by looking at pictures of the feared object on the internet, and then videos on youtube, and then gradual exposure to the real thing. I wonder if there are drain videos on youtube??? Ha ha. The trick is that you have to do all this at a time where you don't need them to face the feared object NOW (like bathtime, or for me, going to a friend's house with a dog).

 

You can call me mean right now.


Ok, did you get it out of your system?

We went through that phase, but probably not to that extent. They were not afraid of the drain (all three kids) unless it was open and the water was exiting the bath. My kids LOVE bathtime and would stay in there for hours if you let them. So, when it was time to get out, I would open the drain and they could not get out of the tub fast enough. I did explain that they could not go through etc. It was a phase. Good luck! Just keep talking about how the drains will not hurt them.

 

One of my boys is terrified of the drain too, like major anxiety when I pull the plug. They'l grow out of it.

On a side note when my siblings and I were kids we hated getting out of the tub so my father used to pull the plug and tell us if we didn't get out we would be sucked down the drain. So Jic Jac, you aren't mean at all! lol