my five year old is afraid of bugs!!! He won't even go outside if he sees a bug. I don't know what to do. Please give me some advice. thanks
2006-07-29 06:57:22 · 15 answers · asked by angeleyes 2 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Toddler & Preschooler
At around age three, most children enter into a magical time where make-believe is the order of the day. Imagination and creativity spring to life. Playtime becomes a setting where wonderful dreams and desires are acted out as kids learn how to pretend. A few props can turn an ordinary rainy afternoon into a trip to a magic castle or the Old West.
But this rich imaginary world is peopled with both heroes and villains, with both marvels and monsters. New fears are a necessary part of entering the world of possibilities. As the imagination blossoms, kids who never before had problems with the dark are now terrified. The neighbor's friendly dog is seen as a menacing danger. An ant on the sidewalk might as well be a powerful alien. Monsters!
Most children, Teresa, will develop one or more deep fears to work through. It might be people in masks, old people, or people with scars. It might be parents leaving or burglars coming. It might be imaginary creatures or wild animals. It might be bugs.
A natural response for parents who see their children cowering before an inchworm is to try to talk their children out of the fear. Kids respond, though, by cranking up the imagination -- the imagined possibilities become worse, not better. And the children feel disconnected from their parents. Ridiculing or threatening children for their fears is even more damaging (sadly I hear this from time to time at playgrounds and stores).
Instead acknowledge the fear, while remaining calm yourself. Assure her of your protection and support. When children see that you take their concerns seriously, they feel closer to you and are more ready to work through the fears.
Do not force your daughter to confront the object of her fears.
One of the fastest ways to help, though, is to provide opportunities to play with NON-THREATENING versions of them. I know a little girl who was terrified of all dogs. Her parents took her to visit a litter of newborn puppies. She was delighted. They got her a cute dog stuffed animal -- she felt mixed. They watched Snoopy videos. Soon her stuffed dog began chasing her dolls, but her dolls learned how to make the dog friendly. In her pretend play she worked through her own fears.
2006-07-29 07:00:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Don't tell him bugs are harmless.....Thats a lie and could kill your son. Bugs can be dangerous and life threatening. He should know which ones bite, sting, or could kill him like if you live in a place where you have a black widows, brown recluse, hornets can hurt really bad.
What if you push him into not being afraid then something bad happens when he picks one up and its the wrong bug to pick up?
Buy him some bug books, bug net, bug magnifieing glass or what-not and help him to sort out the bad ones and the good ones, etc.
I am 20+ and scared to go outside when it's pitch dark.......if someone I loved forced me to face this fear when I knowingly am petrified to walk around in the dark then I would be really hurt and lose trust in that person>
2006-07-29 08:38:42 · answer #2 · answered by tigreria 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try to get him to watch some tv shows geared for kids about bugs. Animal planet sometimes has some good ones. Did he get it from someone close to him? Are you afraid of bugs too and show it when he is around? Find a ladybug or something that isn't harmful and show him how pretty it is and that it can't hurt him. There are a lot of websites on bugs you can look at with him also. Good Luck!
2006-07-29 07:01:40 · answer #3 · answered by ctryhnny04 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can educate him about bugs, as he's 5 and very hungry for information. You can look them up on the internet; buy a book or get one at the library read and talk about them; you can tell him how important bugs are...that they often eat other bugs...and further that they eat bugs that "bug" us.
You and he can draw picture about bugs. He can draw a bug then scribble on it to eliminate it...and tell him that if there is a bug bugging him, you will take care of it. I have always told my kids that spiders are good as they eat annoying bugs, and they could be the children of Charlotte, the spider on Charlottes Web (just asked my 5 year old the title as I was blocking it!!!)
He could make up a song about bugs and how he is bigger than them and he is brave and can handle bugs. Thar will give him power!!
2006-07-29 08:20:30 · answer #4 · answered by Barbara A 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since he is five years old, he is old enough to learn about bugs and what they do.
Buy him some books on bugs, and some of the plastic or rubber bugs you can find in toy stores. Read to him about bugs and let him ask lots of questions. Take it slow.
We are always afraid of what we do not know and understand.
Also......buy him some "Miss Spider" videos of you don't pick up the show on TV. It is a children's show with insects as the main characters.
2006-07-29 07:04:14 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get some books about bugs from the library and study all about the ones in your area. For now, don't force him to confront a real bug. Hopefully in time he will relax a bit.
Best wishes!
from a grandma-aged person
2006-07-29 07:00:35 · answer #6 · answered by PeggyS 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
SO? Who taught this fear to him? Most things are taught by someone around them. IF there is no one he learned this fear from his other life.
YES you read right, his other life.
Sometimes a fear from a past life follows us over to this life.
LOOK I JUST KNOW IT OK...
anyway you need to teach him that some bugs are OK...it is good to have some fear of some bugs we do not want him touching a black widow...
OR eating a poisonous bug.
Go to the library and get some FUN bug books to look at first and then some that identify REAL BUGS...
Take him on a bug safari in your Yard to learn to find ones in the books.
Some kids museums will have BUGS to look at in safe settings try that...or local wilderness parks they have real bugs on display...dead ones to look at.
MAke fun bug crafts to show a FUN, CUTE side of bugs...it will also teach about bug body parts...
I am not really as crazy as I sound.
2006-07-29 07:19:02 · answer #7 · answered by Samuella SilverSelene 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
perchance enable him watch Antz, A malicious program's existence or Bee action picture. Or get him a image e book with bugs in it. you are able to clarify to him which bugs chew and which ones do no longer. My son had a foul worry of bugs whilst he exchange into approximately 2. he's grown out of it now.
2016-10-08 11:25:25 · answer #8 · answered by elidia 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i went through this problem with my youngest son, i simpley picked up the bug and held it and talked to him about it and told him what it did and i let him decide if he wanted to touch it, i explained to him that they would not hurt him and that he was alot bigger than the little bug, i did explain that he is not to touch spiders though becuase they do bite, but its ok to just look at them from a distance. and that they are Gods creation and are here for a purpose to help make different things grow in differnet ways.
2006-07-29 07:02:52 · answer #9 · answered by ladyrebel 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
BUT MOM...isn't it your fault?
I bet you yourself are afraid of bugs and, one day your son saw you jump at the sight of a spider, silverfish or some other creepy-crawly and has been afraid ever since.
Oh, and to poster "ladyrebel" up above there...
I'm not buying the "I simply picked up the bug and held it and talked to him (my son) about it...yada, yada"
People are not in the habit of so nonchalantly
"picking up bugs"...sorry.
2006-07-29 07:09:02 · answer #10 · answered by GeneL 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋