What advice or suggestions do you have when a 3 year all of sudden becomes fearful. My daughter has always been a very outgoing and talkative child. She started going to daycare in June 2011 and everything seems to be going ok there. For the last two weeks she has become fearful of pooping in the toilet and now her (home) daycare provider says she is refusing to go outside to play. Now tonight she refused to take a bath and starting screaming and crying and said she was scared to take a bath. I have tried to find out what she is afraid of in all these different fears and she will not say anything specific is scaring her, just that she is scared. any ideas or suggestions?
Oh yes I remember those days all to well. Two weeks of sleepless nights & we finally found out that our darling had seen a scene in a disney movie with a bear. A bear that didn't even eat anyone. Needless to say it was just a short term thing.
Good luck,
DH
i often ask my three and a half yr old boy when he is saying he is scared "What is going to happen if you (go outside, get in the bath, or poop in the potty? )" It usually makes them think about it and realize what is going to happen. Try to remain calm and speak in a very calming voice (think bob ross the happy clouds painter). Also cheering him on seems to work wonders. "you can do it! do it , do it , do it!" very playful talking and encouraging. I do not overly comfort him i might rub his back but i try not to hold him or overly coddle when the situation is odd or not a normal reaction to a situation. although this is a very nomral stage. i do not want to encourage the thinking that its ok to be scared of these day to day things. Prayers for you and yours.
well, I have two children with 2 and 4 years old and there are the same stages that you are going through with your little 3 year old.
The only thing that would me make me more looking into it is that you say it is a home daycare. Sometimes one person is easy overwhelmed with a bunch of kids and do not have the freedom to rest as you have two or more teachers in a daycare where several kids are attending. Maybe the teacher is not always patient with the children and that is what she is scared of. However, I would ask other parents if they have similar experiance with this home daycare. Even consider to stay for some hours with your child to learn more about her day routine might help her to get over the fears she shows.
Hi S.,
so sorry your little one is going through this.
My 3 year old just started pre-school. We started a ritual each evening where we go over our day and talk about what made us happy and what upset us...I have learned a great deal about him this way and things i could not know. Like that he was upset when a little boy in the playground would not share a toy...etc...
Maybe if you talk to her and enable her to share with you this stuff, you can figure out what happened and help her deal with it.
Maybe she fell and the teachers did not tell you?
Maybe she feels left out from the other children and she cannot express it?
Maybe one child acts up and it scares her????
Try as well to hang out for 2 minutes in the morn at the class to see if you can sense anything. I would also ask the teacher.
I hope this helps.
Jilly
