my 3.5 year old seeing ghosts

Amy - posted on 10/17/2010

Ask him questions what its wearing, a child, etc. Children can see ghosts and stuff like that. Have him drawl what he seen.

Melissa - posted on 10/17/2010

I have been dealing with the same thing since my child was old enough to explain what she is seeing, at first I would get scared cause I was unsure what she was saying and why, but she truely thinks and believes she is seeing things and I really just try to calm her down and I do not let her sleep in the room alone, so when she wakes up i am there or close, so i guess i would say be comforting, cause at that age (mine is now 4) they are scared and do not know what to do or why it is happening, I try not to over speak about it and only do when she brings it up after it happens and then i go and tell her I will get rid of any ghosts and I will protect her. There is not much else you can do at that age, try if you can wait it out and see if it goes away or if it continues until they are old enough to know the difference between reality and not and see what they are still seeing and not.

Cynthia - posted on 11/04/2009

My son was about one in a half and began to get scared at certain times of the day. I truly believe that there is something there. Hopefully, you can pray with him to make it go away if it is a bad spirit! I do know there are good angels and bad ones. Pray and get some holy water, and show him around the house while your splashing it around the house. doing that maybe he will feel safe after that.

 

Quoting Bridget:

I'm studying childhood psychology and 3 is the age where children start seeing "ghosts" and "monsters". It is due to their blossoming imagination & is actually a good sign that their brain is developing the way it should. My daughter is also 3.5 and she's been seeing "Monsters". It truelly scares her. She even saw one in the grocery store & had to have daddy hold her to protect her. Don't play it off like they're being silly because in their mind they are really seeing ghosts or monsters. I would tell your son that you will protect him or I would buy a special "anti-ghost" night light for his room. I tell my daughter that about monsters. I have also heard of people keeping a spray bottle of water & using it as "Monster" spray to get rid of monsters. You could try that for ghosts. It is a phase that will last for a while since their little imaginations are just starting to get warmed up. This is also the stage where violent/scary things on TV should be avoided (if they weren't already). Hope this helps.

Jessica - posted on 11/04/2009

Right now I'm just letting this go with Halloween just passing. It seems to be in our bathroom, his playroom and our living room that he sees them. I can believe him when he says he sees them in the living room b/c that is where my husbands grandfather passed at was in our living room.

Erika - posted on 11/04/2009

Quoting Jessica:

Alyssa and Erika it doesn't happen when he's sleeping. It's during waking hours. It's hard to know if it's his imagination or not b/c we do live in my husbands grandparents house where my huband's grandfather passed away in the house we live in.

Okay, well, in that case if you believe in ghosts then he probably does to. The likelyness that he actually sees physical manifestations is low. Kids have the amazing ability to keep up with thier imaginations, we as parents lag behind. We were making "soup" and I cut up imaginary onions on my right knee and garlic on my left. That was about three weeks ago and she still goes to them to get ingrediats for her soups. He may be feeding off of conversations about ghosts, and cant let the imagination go. Worst case scenario Ive ever seen was on oprah,  http://www.oprah.com/dated/oprahshow/opr... So you gotta either belive he's imagining, actually seeing ghosts, or is schizophrenic (God forbid). If he is just imagining ignore it, if he's really seeing ghosts and it freaks you out (becuase you believe there are actually ghosts that he sees and you cant) than maybe you want a preist to come and bless the house and it's surroundings. I hope this helps

Jessica - posted on 11/04/2009

very interesting ! Just ask your son to openly talk about it with you and you are willing to listen to anything he has to say..and take what he says seriously until something shows that you shouldnt ..kids are alot smarter then they seem.. let him expresss himself in any way he wants...if he knows what they look like in time im sure he will tell you...just stay supportive no matter how strange it may seem...and dont make a big deal of it or he might not be as likely to express himself

Wanda - posted on 11/04/2009

My neice saw ghosts. Her mother wouldn't actually freak out but she didn't want to hear about it either. I thought it was kind of cool (I believe in ghosts and believe that there are people who can see and interact with them i.e. Sylvia Brown) and would ask her to tell me about it. She often talked about a little boy Daniel and his dog that would visit her. One day her mother came home and could smell cigarette smoke in the house (they're non-smokers), she asked if someone had been smoking in the house, my neice told her that Ben had been over for a visit (Ben was a family friend who passed away suddenly about a year previously and had been a smoker). That threw my SIL for a loop. My neice will be 6 soon and I haven't heard talk about talking to ghosts in a long time. It might have been her imagination (doesn't explain the Ben story) or she might still see them but doesn't say anything because she knows her mother doesn't want to hear it.

As for what his ghosts look like - have you showed him pics of family members who have passed away? Do you have any books where the people are dressed in old fashioned clothing, maybe his ghost looks like that? Have you asked him if his ghost has a name? And I agree, ask him to draw it and then tell you about his drawing.

Holli - posted on 11/04/2009

Has someone he's close to passed away recently? I've heard many a stories of kids seeing passed family members, maybe even one who died before he was born. I think having him draw a picture of the ghost might be a good idea. Or it is possible just like Shayna said, Halloween did just pass... Good Luck!

Candice - posted on 11/04/2009

pick up sylvia brown's book "psychic children" (if you actually believe they might be seeing real ghosts). it gives advice on how to help your child deal with what they're seeing.

Erin - posted on 11/04/2009

I wish I could help, but I am in the same boat! My son is right at 3 1/2 as well, and he suddenly will not go to the bathroom without an adult with him, and he won't go into his room alone because he keeps telling me there is a ghost in there. We recently put a fan in his room and I thought that it was the fan blowing his dangly decorations around that gave him the idea that there was a ghost and I tried to explain that to him, because he kept pointing to that corner... I turned the fan off and showed him that they no longer moved and then reminded him that the fan blows his hair around too... He looked at the fan and then looked at the motionless decoration and said, "Ooooh, ok, fan go on now." I thought that that was the end of it, but he STILL wouldn't go in the room alone, and kept pointing to that corner and telling me there was a ghost... Last night he told me that his Spider-man "poster", that was actually a salvaged punching-bag front so that it is square on the bottom and rounded at the top, was a ghost. I asked him if he wanted me to take it down and he said yes... I did, and he played in there alone for a while with no problems. He still will not go to the bathroom alone though, so I'm not sure what I'll have to do to convince him that he is ok. I even posted a friendly looking lion over his potty and told him it was there to protect the bathroom, but that may have made him think there actually was something he needed protection from. I am not sure why it is this age that ghosts seem to become a big deal. I know he is a huge fan of Thomas and Friends, and in one of the episodes a big tarp falls over one of the trains and her friends think she is a ghost and they all race back to their shed, scared, the covered train sqealing, "IT'S GOT ME!" He started mentioning ghosts after that like they were funny, but somehow they are scary for him now. I think I am going to sit down and draw with him and see if anything I draw looks like his ghost... Good luck to you both!

Bridget - posted on 11/03/2009

I'm studying childhood psychology and 3 is the age where children start seeing "ghosts" and "monsters". It is due to their blossoming imagination & is actually a good sign that their brain is developing the way it should. My daughter is also 3.5 and she's been seeing "Monsters". It truelly scares her. She even saw one in the grocery store & had to have daddy hold her to protect her. Don't play it off like they're being silly because in their mind they are really seeing ghosts or monsters. I would tell your son that you will protect him or I would buy a special "anti-ghost" night light for his room. I tell my daughter that about monsters. I have also heard of people keeping a spray bottle of water & using it as "Monster" spray to get rid of monsters. You could try that for ghosts. It is a phase that will last for a while since their little imaginations are just starting to get warmed up. This is also the stage where violent/scary things on TV should be avoided (if they weren't already). Hope this helps.

Shayna - posted on 11/03/2009

How long has it been going on? Halloween did just past, seeing scary TV shows/movies, decorations, and costumes could have gave him the images and make that play a role in his imagination. It is hard to believe in the super natural world, when you haven't witnessed it yourself. I do believe it exists, and know people who have sworn they experienced it. If he is persistent with seeing things, and is truly frightened in your eyes, I would take him to possibly see a neurological specialist or even priest and see what advice they can give you.

Melanie - posted on 11/03/2009

When my nephew's where around that age and they seen ghost too. one would cry for my mother who had passed years before he was born telling me she gave him a bath in the sink and known the house we grow up in no one ever spoke of her around him are showed pic's but he know everything he was around 3 and my other nephew was about your son age and i was walking him to the restroom and it was just me and him in the house and he looked back at me and said who is that man behide you .i looked and no one was there . but he seen some man . a friends son was 3 and he was laying on the floor watching cartoons and his mother was in the chair he got up and whispered to her your mama's here and she to him no she;s not and he said your mamas here and pointed up . but all i did when they seen the ghost was tell them oh ok there nice and go one with what i was doing, but i would wouldnt put to much in it . he soon will not see them anymore , Good Luck

Jessica - posted on 11/03/2009

Alyssa and Erika it doesn't happen when he's sleeping. It's during waking hours. It's hard to know if it's his imagination or not b/c we do live in my husbands grandparents house where my huband's grandfather passed away in the house we live in.

Alyssa - posted on 11/03/2009

Awwwww, I agree with Erika! I wouldn't make a big deal out of it because he is going to feed off of how you are feeling. Hang in there and hopefully it's just an imagination thing. :-)

Alyssa M.
www.4theLoveofMyFamily.com
www.SwitchingStores.com/AlyssaMaliska

Erika - posted on 11/03/2009

I would say have him act it out, or draw it down if he is more visual. If he still has issues you should try to have a "sleepover" in his room. It'll be a pain on your sleep schedule, but if your there to dispel all the "bumps in the night it might help. (Unless you think he might scare you, then stick to the role playing and art, lol)