I have a 3yr old thats scared

Christiane - posted on 06/24/2010

I agree with Cathy, Creativity on how to get rid of the monsters is good. Make sure no scary movies before bed time, or have a cartoon that you know has good endings just before bad time and maybe a glass of warm milk too. As you were a child once warm milk settled the stomach and mind and the good ending movie helps settle the nerves and may she sleep peacefully through the night. My daughter has night time music that we put on when she goes to bed. She is 11 years old now and still plays music, but her taste in music has changed. We still do the movie before bed, but not the milk anymore. The music scares the monsters away she use to tell me. So I let her listen as it scares them away. Now its just soothing to her so she can rest easy she says.

Shandy - posted on 06/24/2010

Thanks ladies for all your help! We have tried a nightlight and she sees more "monsters". She is scared of the office because thats where our cat died about 2 weeks ago. That might just be the problem, but she talks about monsters mean nasty ones, not kitties. I'm so confused and hate that she feels unsafe. Kathy I will try the salt thing and hope it works! Thanks again and keep helping if you can think of anything else.

Kathy - posted on 06/23/2010

Ask her what scares her. She may have a serious case of "monsters" or "ghosts". Or some other scary thing. My daughter went through this phase. She had some nasty monsters in her bedroom. I got my big canning pot out and lid, marched in her room with a big spoon. I shooed all them nasty monster in that pot and her Dad slammed the lid down on them. I took that pot full of monsters (I checked with her to make sure I had them all) and run them out the door (her Dad held it open for me and slammed it behind me). Then I proceeded to boot the monsters right in the butt so hard they landed on the other side of the world!! No more monsters!! With my son, we sprinkled magic Morton's salt on the window sills to keep out the ghosts and used the broom to sweep out all the bad ghosts-right out the frontdoor. Then we put down a line of salt across all the doors leading outside so no ghosts could ever come in.

Both have slept with nightlights and little reading lamps on in their rooms through out the years. Creativity is your best friend. Found out the scarey and then defeat it in a confident you-can't-beat-mom way!! Good luck!

Alison - posted on 06/23/2010

As children get older their sleep becomes lighter and their imagination goes crazy wild! As they adapt to this, they often go through a phase of nighttime fears. My 4-year-old is at that phase right now and I am dreading our upcoming move.

Continue to reassure her and maybe buy her a special nightlight. If sleeping on the couch works for now, go with that.

Julie - posted on 06/23/2010

Perhaps a fun night light would help make it less scary at night. They have some really cute ones. Maybe take her shopping for a special "happy" light or something.

good luck

Melany - posted on 06/23/2010

She probably had something that scared her and at 3, they are starting to realize things can hurt them, etc. My daughter just started it as well and I just try to reassure her that she is safe and that we are near.

Jennifer - posted on 06/23/2010

My daughter started this a couple weeks ago. She wakes up scared at night and is scared to go to sleep and she calls everything scary. I think is just a phase some kids go through. My daughter will jsut be turning 2 in a coule weeks.

Shandy - posted on 06/23/2010

she did have a bad dream the other day she said there was a ghost in her bathroom! thanks for reminding me. Im gonna make some "Ghost spray be gone" water in a spray bottle. So she can spray the ghost and tell it to go away!

Josie - posted on 06/23/2010

Maybe she had a bad dream and now she's scared? Or maybe something freaked her out? I would just try comforting her, I think eventually she will stop being afraid.