2 1/2 y.o. Son Afraid of the Drain

oh my goodness. i hadnt heard this one in a long time. my youngest who is ow 17 had the same problem. i thought it was just him. this was way before Nemo ws around. i dont know what made hima fraid of the drain but i went to the hardware store and got a peice of window screen i got the plastic kind becuase the metal will rust. i taped the edges with duct tape and i always put it over the drain when whe took a bath to keep it from floating i usually put a heavy toy on to p of it. when i let he water go, he knew that the screen would catch whatever went down the drain. i also made a couple of smaller ones ofr the sinks. it only lasted a couple of weeks after that

What about taking a bath WITH him? Maybe showing him that mommy and daddy go in the bathtub and nothing happens will help. Otherwise, maybe it is just a phase, and you will just have to give him a shower instead until he forgets about this fear. I wouldn't force it on him, because it could only make things worse.

This is a natural fear and will work itself out. All the logic in the world won't convince your son right now that he won't go down the drain. You can try to reason with him but he can't see for himself because the drain isn't clear. At this age he has all the knowledge and needs to see things to believe. If you are afraid of undoing the potty training then get a potty chair that doesn't have a drain for the time being. When my son was very little he would fall asleep to the vacuum. Now he is terrified and has been since he was 6 months old.

I wouldn't stress too much. It will click eventually!

We had this problem for a short time, except we didn't have the toilet issue. However, we made it a game. When it was time to pull the drain, my son got to do the honors. Then when the toys starting swirling toward the drain, I would say,"AHHHHH, hurry, get all your toys and put them away before they go down the drain!" He would scurry to "rescue" them from the drain and then rush to rescue himself into my loving arms. Just make it fun and show him that there is nothing to be afraid of. Before long we were laughing everytime we had a bath instead of focusing on the fear of it all.

We found a book in the library about it. It's been too long, so I don't remember the name, but it talked about how drains work. Our son thought it was really cool to watch the water swirl down the drain. We put a toy in and "rescued" it before it got too close. Also, it finally clicked that he was bigger than the toy, so if the toy was safe, maybe he would be safe. Another thought, the little inflatable ducky baths at Target or Walmart. Then he's not in the tub "unprotected", but you still have a clean boy.

My son who is now five went through the same thing, I just kept telling him that he was too big to fit down the drain and eventually with many protest he got over it.

Do you still have a little potty chair? Try having him potty in there for a while... then he doesn't have to worry about a drain since there's none in a potty chair. Have him help you hold the pot & dump the contents in & watch it all go down-he's a boy, they love gross stuff! lol I really like the tape on the handle that somebody suggested-have him stand in the doorway while you flush so he can see how you're not falling down the drain when you flush it.
For the tub, they make rubber drain traps or even the rubber corks-see if he'd be willing to pull the chain/cord after he's out of the tub. Remind him that he won't fit down the drain but if it makes him feel better to pop the cork out of the tub, he can do that. And watch the whirlpool while the tub is draining-wow, isn't that cool. Leave a big toy in the tub & watch it get stuck ON the drain, rather than going DOWN the drain. Pick it up & let it get sucked back onto it a few times each bath-eventually he will want to pick it up & let it get stuck again too.
Or try a shower w/a detachable shower head (the kind on a hose-cleans my little ones much better anyway), let him hold the water & get the "grandma's kitchen" rubber drain thingie. It's not a plug, but it's got a plastic/rubber screen that sits down IN the drain. We used them growing up in each shower to trap our long hair & in the kitchen because we had no disposal & needed to catch the funk before it clogged the drain.
(the drain cork:http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://mobilehomep...)
And don't watch Flushed Away-it's even worse than Nemo!

J.,

I am not sure if you are having the drain problem still or not. My daughter had this also. I thought she was the only one. Any way we made a game out of it. Turn it into fun when you can. I showed her how to step on the drain and how the water stopped and made funny noises as i would move my foot around. Then we would try to stop the whirlpool or if it was big enough I showed her how to put her finger in the middle of it and it would stay dry. She ended up being fasinated with the drain for a while. Now at 5 she takes her shower with no problems.

Best wishes,

J.

Well, hmmm thisis a hard one. I would tell your son even at 3 years of age they understand more than what we think. YOu might let him know that the movie is not real and that in order for nemo to find his daddy he had to go down that drain or he would have no other way to get home to be with all his dad and friends. I hope this helps.

does he understand the logic of big things not fitting into little things? (as in, you won't fit down the drain even if you wanted to?) perhaps you getting into the tub (when it's dry) and showing him how you can't fit into it would give him peace of mind, while reassuring him that you are his parents and you would never ever put him in peril or do anything that would harm him. constantly reassure him: "mama and daddy are here, taking care of you"

All kids go through spurts of fears, the drain being very common. DO showers with him if he doesn't want baths. Try not to ridicule his fears. It is super smart to try and educate him about his fears vs. make it a bad thing to fear things. Tell him you won't flush the toilet until he is done and out of the room if that helps him. Give him some time, my daughter hated Nemo because of the sharks and when the heck is she going to come face to face with a shark, hee hee. In a year she was so over it and loves the movie. She had her spurt of fears of weather when she saw clips on the news of Katrina, she was three at the time and really had some wild fears about weather. I just tried to educate her, give it time and now she is so interested in weather. Hugs, it is a phase and your reassurance and constant trying to show him he has nothing to fear is the best.

Im not sure if your old enough to rember Mr. Rodgers. He did an entire show about water going down the drain. This is a common problem. Maybe you can goggle and find more information on this. Good luck.

For the bathtub--find something to cover up the drain. Get something heavy that won't float and cover it up. Nothing can go down the drain while you are in here because XXXX is blocking the way. Nothing can get down the drain. Work from there. Sometimes we need little crutches to get us through. He won't go to college afraid of drains. Whatever you do, do NOT force him to get into the tub kicking and screaming. That will really cause a problem. Use a few other things to make the bath more exciting at the same time. Let him have a popsicle in the tub, use tub tints by crayola (colored water) etc to concentrate on the "fun" part of the bath. If he is afraid to put his toys in, give him bath foam to play with. It's like colored shaving cream. On the toilet. Rig up something on the handle. Put a piece of giant tape on it and say; when you are in the bathroom, the tape is on the handle and the water can't flush. See??? At first, wait until he leaves the room to pull the tape off and flush it. Help him to understand that the water only goes down when you pull the lever. Right now he just needs to build his confidence that he's safe. Like training wheels. Good luck.

I saw a scary show about someone flushing a baby aligator down the potty as a kid and was terrified of drains and the flush for a while! I remember running out of the bathroom at top speed every time I flushed :) Maybe start with the bath since it is quieter and keep him outside while you show him only liquid can go down and various large objects (not his favorite toys!) don't. I would try staying with him in the potty (even hold his hand or something) especially around the flush part until he gets over it. Good luck!

You can buy drain covers. I'm not sure where, maybe Walmart. Explain to him that you're going to cover the drain so he doesn't have anything to worry about. And he won't have to see the drain all the time. It might also help if he knows that one of you will always be in the room while he takes a bath.

Just remember that childrens fears ARE very real to them as silly as they might be to us. I think you guys are on the right track by talking about it. I think you just need to keep doing that. I know he is going to get dirty but maybe let the bath slide every now and then. I do remember my oldest (whose 4 now) having a fear of the bath about that age. I moved him into our bath thinking he might find that cool and also started using lots of fun stuff (colors in the water, bubble bath, and kind of sprinkle that made the bath fun-can find some at currents.com) I let him but the bubbles and choose the color and that was the way to get him in. And then we just washed quick and got out. Eventually everything returned to normal as if it never happened!