JFF: What Is the Most Random Thing Your Child Is Terrified Of?

My kids are all afraid of all the normal things, just at abnormal levels. :) Heights seem to be the big one.

Oh, under two years old they were terrified of the car wash. I remember threatening them with if you don't behave I am washing this car!! It worked. :p

Gloves. Yes gloves. He would wig out! Up until he was about 3. Lol his first trip to the dentist he was so good and brave..until the dentist put gloves on. Hahaha

My 2 year old, will not walk on shiny floors. It's only been recently that she will try it, but if they have been recently buffed...forget it.

I totally understand the fear of the automatic flushers. Drape a toilet seat cover or toilet paper over them... A lot of kids hate these.

My son *hated* the wind in his face when he was little, a baby. He cried and cried.

Then came the summer when he was four, and thought the pigeons at the downtown square would eat him. That was hysterical and annoying, but we made it. Now he's down with the pigeons. :)

Thankfully, this summer, he has moved into some very reality-based fears. I can deal with these better.

my daughter also hates the automatic toilets and used to scream that they would "automatic" on her. We bought post-its that I keep in my purse and before she gets on the potty, I put a post it over the sensor so it won't go off while she's on it. Hope that helps. :-)

honestly I dont recall my boys having any irrational fears.
The oldest, tho, freaked out with jello... omg, the look on his face after his first bite was hilarious and he wouldnt eat it till he was about 4 after that.

Masking tape...when we painted our son's room, our daughter was 2 years old and she would completely freak out every time she saw a piece of making tape on the floor. Naturally, her 10 year old brother thought it was hilarious and took full advantage of it. LOL

My sister AND one of my kids were afraid of going through a car wash. Boy, did they scream. It's not like you can back out of them once you start either!

After I went through it with my son, I remembered it happening with my sister (I was a lot older than her and was driving her in my car). Too bad I didn't remember that and do it when I was by myself!

Dawn

Not now... But it took YEARS to get my son over his fear of.... Grass.

Parks were not our friend.

ETA- Ha! I'd totally forgotten about the car wash!!! Shudder. You can't back out, but they DO let you drive forward come to find. Don't ask. I thought they were going to call the cops. Kidnapping. It was a scene.

My son was terrified of the cookie monster on Sesame Street! He used to draw all these pictures of the cookie monster with HUGE pointy teeth. LOL!

My daughter was afraid of fuzz. Any kind, from the dryer, dust bunnies, etc.

My daughter was afraid of cotton balls when she was 20 months old.

Thanks for the memory :-)

Between 2 and 4 my son would have a complete freak out whenever he heard the happy birthday song being sung. Every birthday party we had to go outside for a few minutes when the cake came out.

Hi I love-

To be perfectly honest...I HATE self flush toilets too! I like to 'flush' on my own time...lol

My 'special' needs daughter was terrified of walking on grass when she was finally learning to walk. There were some sensory issues...but we had finally planned a family beach getaway...and I was terrified that the sand would creep her out.

Happy to say...it did NOT! Maybe the soothing sounds of the ocean evened things out.

Now...she is fearless!

Go figure.
Best Luck!
michele/cat

My DD loves ceiling fans during the day... but she is TERRIFIED of them at night!

My son used to be afraid of swings. He would scream if he saw one at the park, or even a picture in a book. Even a sign swinging from the ceiling at the grocery store freaked him out. He grew out of being terrified, but is still not interested in going on them at all.

My 3 yr old is scared of walking on mesh bridges and stairs (like at the playground, or in a parking garage.) He gets down on all fours and crawls VERY slowly. Not so bad at the park, but disgusting in a public parking garage!

My 5 yr old is terrified of our guest room, which is off the family room, and across from the bathroom. If the door to it is open he wont go into the hallway even if he is about to wet his pants. I have to come close the door for him. Not sure why. Might be because my husband used to have a 2-foot high tabletop skeleton in there, which I moved it to the basement a long time ago, but my son still freaks out and says he's scared of "Daddy's monster."

Losing his teeth! My 5 year old has his first loose tooth and is terrified to lose it! It's partly my fault as we told our children they must take care of thier teeth otherwise they would fall out-we forgot to explain the "tooth fairy"....oops! We are trying to make him feel better now by offering to buy him a toy when the big day comes!

When my son was 3, he was afraid of the alarm clock and standing on our electric scale. He wasn't "freaked out" terrified but several times asked that we turn the clock around and would not get on our scale until recently. He told us he was afraid of them. I think it was the red display on both.

My 4.5 year old is terrified of an old ET stuffed doll that my Dad has at his house. The funny thing is that his dogs are afraid of it, too- if he leaves it on the bed, the dogs won't jump on the bed!! Hm, maybe they know something we don't...lol...
My little one (nearly 2) refused to walk barefoot on grass on our recent trip to the East Coast. Not a lot of bare feet outside in AZ :) At one point he climbed onto his grandma's feet and refused to step off.

When we use the auto flush toilets, I put TP over the sensor & remove it so it will flush only when I remove the TP. My 4 yo DD isn't as scared of that though, as she is of a helium balloon that is starting to sink and floating around the house at about 4 feet off the floor! LOL =D
Oh, and when she was 3, she was so frightened of the swoosh sound that my iPhone makes when it sends a text or email! xD
ETA: DD#2 was terrified of car washes when she was a baby (maybe 10-14 months old), and finally after about the 3rd one, I remembered about it before hand and drove right up to the car wash, got her out of her car seat, set her in my lap and held her the entire car wash and talked to her and explained what it was and acted all happy about it. When it was over, I pulled out & buckled her up again & we went on our merry way & she NEVER has cried in one since, even though I only held her that one time! Yay! :)

Our daughter is almost 5 and gets freaked out over any kind of alarm - alarm clock, smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector, the beeping on the weather channel when there is some kind of severe weather alert. She is also afraid of spiders - but I don't think that's such a strange thing to be scared of! Between the ages of 1 and 3, she HATED Thomas the Tank Engine!

I knew one kid that was afraid of styrofoam - he just couldn't stand the noise it made when you rubbed it!

DS was scared of the automatic toilets also. Put a post it over the electric eye and it will be fine.

DH had a friend when they were kids who was TERRIFIED of milk trucks (and gasoline trucks because they look like milk trucks). No clue why.

My nephew and the Easter Bunny...his fear is so over the top it surpasses funny. You just feel sorry for him as he quakes in utter terror. Kids and their thought processes...funny little creatures.

Great post!

To the tune of potty fears, my 2-year-old is terrified of the blowers in public restrooms. I have to assure her that I won't use them and try to get out before other patrons dare dry their hands!

She is also scared of Yo Gabba Gabba. We're TV minimalists so this is no big deal!

Dawn - I was afraid of the car wash when I was a child. I thought I was the only one. Glad to hear there are others. I felt like I was being eaten by a monster.

I don't remember my older son being afraid of anything. My younger son was terrified of bouncy castles, so scared he couldn't even be near one without getting almost hysterical! I think he was four before he would go on one, but he loves them now.

We have automatic toilets at the Y, and I was surprised by how many kids are frightened by them. My kids were always delighted by the "magic" toilets.

The two big ones were wind (even a mild breeze) and the possibility that something (a wood chip, a grain of sand) might get in his shoe.

He's still afraid to put his whole head under water, and he has this pervasive fear of bee stings -- to the point where *I'm* afraid that he's actually deathly allergic (he's never been stung).

I have a friend who's son is afraid of buttons.lol

The vacuum cleaner. My 5 year old seems to be terrified of the loud noise it makes.

Not too weird but my daughter said clowns and their "star blazing eyes"! Haha :)

Band-Aids... So weird. A tip for the auto-flushers?? Post-Its!! My daughter is terrified of the automatic flushers as well. She just doesn't want it to flush while she's sitting on it - that's happened before. I taught her the way they work and give her Post-Its. She sticks one over the light sensor and is good to go. She pulls up her pants, opens the door and pulls it off and runs out the door while it flushes. Haha.

My dd was afraid of people coughing when she was younger.

Now she's still afraid of the dark

Toilets that attach to the wall instead of the floor. It's a real, true phobia, too. She gets ALL worked up and won't go! :o\

The very same as yours, my almost 4 year old will not use any auto flush toilets... And a lot of places have them aj she really doesn't use public restrooms.. when I ask, I'm goin to the restroom, who else has to go, shell ask, does it flush by itself, I say yes, she'll say, no, ill wait... Lol. She will hold it all day. And when she HAS to go, she jumps up real fast... My almost 5 yo..... Idk... She getting to be brave... Too brave.