fears

Joshua has developed fears. After mentioning this to my doctor, she told me that it is very common for children ages 4 through 7 to develop fears, real and imagined. She said that their imagination is going full swing (the imagined fears) and they are becoming more aware of the world around them (the real fears...car accidents, bad people, etc.)

Joshua's biggest fear, for the moment, is his fear of the dark. When he goes to bed, he has two nightlights, a lamp and his overhead light on. The few times I tried to sneak in and turn his overhead light off, he woke up during the night crying for me to turn it back on. I've tried to tell him that there is nothing to be afraid of, we have discussed what he is afraid of in the dark and all he says is he is just scared of the dark. Last week, Scott was sick with a nasty cold and I thought I would sleep on Joshua's top bunk....I didn't want to catch the cold and I don't sleep well on the couch. I told Joshua that I couldn't sleep with the overhead light on and if he woke up during the night and the light was off, it meant I was sleeping on the top. He woke up, he cried, he told me he didn't want me to sleep in his room, he wanted the light on....I moved to the couch.

He is a little afraid that someone is going to get him. He wants me to stick close to him at the park, he doesn't want to go into the 4 year old class at church, I now have to go into the bathroom stall with him instead of waiting outside the stall door, all because he is scared someone is going to grab him.

He is also having some loud noise issues...loud noises scare him. In public restrooms, he can't be in the stall when I flush, he has to go over to the sink and cover his ears. Kids playing too loud at the playground, he covers his ears. All he says is it is too loud and it scares him.

Luckily, none of these are too serious, they don't interrupt our daily lives.