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Phobias
I started a similar thread many months ago but wondered if anyone had anything to add.
Back then Abby was terrified of the remote control spider. Now she is still a bit unsure of it but now she can manage the control she has more control of it and actually brings us the spider to turn it on.
However we have just started to get problems with dogs and some other animals. It started with the next door neighbours dogs. They have a rottweiler and a husky (both very gentle) who push their noses through the fence. I was out in the garden with Abby and she suddenly saw the nose and started crying. We were then over at the in-laws and she screamed and ran to me when she saw their dog come to the back door. She relaxed a bit more when he was in the house but really wanted to be picked up.
Today I took her to see some piglets at a local farm shop and she screamed blue-murder. She clung onto my neck, shaking, screaming and burying her face into my neck. She relaxed a bit when we moved away but started again when we saw their pigmy goats. This is the same child who hand-fed a duck on Wednesday, a horse on Sunday and 2 weeks ago ran around at Odds Farm Park feeding goats and sheep and giggling at very large pigs.![:\](https://forum.madeformums.com/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
?
Luckily she is still absolutely fine with my dog and greeted her after the pig/goat /dog incident with her usual smile and hug before running after her down the garden to be whipped in the face by her tail, giggling throughout.
Is anyone else finding these same issues and what are you doing about it? I sooo want Abby to love animals as much as I do and she just seems so different to the usual confident little girl.
H xx
Back then Abby was terrified of the remote control spider. Now she is still a bit unsure of it but now she can manage the control she has more control of it and actually brings us the spider to turn it on.
However we have just started to get problems with dogs and some other animals. It started with the next door neighbours dogs. They have a rottweiler and a husky (both very gentle) who push their noses through the fence. I was out in the garden with Abby and she suddenly saw the nose and started crying. We were then over at the in-laws and she screamed and ran to me when she saw their dog come to the back door. She relaxed a bit more when he was in the house but really wanted to be picked up.
Today I took her to see some piglets at a local farm shop and she screamed blue-murder. She clung onto my neck, shaking, screaming and burying her face into my neck. She relaxed a bit when we moved away but started again when we saw their pigmy goats. This is the same child who hand-fed a duck on Wednesday, a horse on Sunday and 2 weeks ago ran around at Odds Farm Park feeding goats and sheep and giggling at very large pigs.
? Luckily she is still absolutely fine with my dog and greeted her after the pig/goat /dog incident with her usual smile and hug before running after her down the garden to be whipped in the face by her tail, giggling throughout.
Is anyone else finding these same issues and what are you doing about it? I sooo want Abby to love animals as much as I do and she just seems so different to the usual confident little girl.
H xx
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Replies
i'm sorry i've not got anything useful to say really, but you are so helpful i didn't want to leave you with no replies!!!
the only slightly similar thing i can draw on is when theo was much younger he was really scared of bubbles - i was so surprised i thought all kids loved bubles, so i blew them right at him, one touched him and he hated it! then he'd cry if he just saw the bubble bottle! slowly i started blewing them away from him, over time getting closer and closer and really enjoying them and making out they were so much fun and now he loves them! i wonder if you could use the same method with aniimals?
as she is having so many wonderful happy experiences with animals i'm sure she will grew up loving them as much as you do and wanting many pets!
take care,
love k xxx
Lorelei used to go into hysterics over cellotape for some reason. It was around christmas that it came to light when putting up decorations, wrapping gifts etc and she'd stop what she was at and cry and come running to cling to us. I gave her a little to play with and took it from there and now she doesn't even notice. It was similar to our blender and juicer but I just made a wee game of it. Perhaps could have some books or dvd's with animals on to show her on a daily basis to get used to seeing them in different forms?
Let us know how get on. It is a big world for them to take in so I think it;s natural that a few things will look especially daunting for them over time.
R x
It sounds like she's had a negative experience with an animal (perhaps a sudden noise or movement) that's triggered off a fear which kicks in when she sees an animal now. Maybe your next door neighbours dog frightened her recently and she now associates this with other animals. She must be feeling very threatened. She has had lots of experience with your dog so she wont associate the fear with her. It's so common though for children to go through phases of phobias and fears.
I think what really helps is to expose them to their fear, and give them lots of reassurance and make it fun as mummychop says. So she should hopefully start to view it as a positive experience and not a threatening one. It helps that you have a dog, so she can see that animals are not threatening. Perhaps if friends have pets take her to see them and make it fun. Books and dvds too so she can learn all about them, the more she understands the safer she will feel. You're probably doing all this anyway!
The fear won't last and is just a phase as you probably realise.
The only fear so far we've had with Isaac is a spinning top when he was little. He was terrified, bless him, but as he got used to handling it and seeing it move he got over it! He sometimes has night terrors and it's horrible to hear him in such a state and it takes ages for him to calm down!
Anyway let us know how it goes, she'll probably be over it in a few weeks xx
[Modified by: bellah on April 26, 2010 01:12 PM]