Fear in Toddlers

Oh it was pitiful. Just two days ago I was putting my kids to bed and my baby – 16 months old- started to point at the bookshelf and say:

"Duuu! Duuu! Duuu!." His little brow was all crinkled up.

Something was definitely wrong. So I peered around at the book case, and there innocently perched was the “I’m a little giraffe book” by Tim Weare. Now I love this book. All my children have loved it too including the baby a while ago. But the way it was sitting in the bookshelf, the little giraffe face must have looked a little menacing.

“This?” I asked.

I slowly picked it up and put my index finger in the plastic giraffe head and wiggled it.

“See, it’s okay.”

His eyes widened, and he turned and ran in the other direction.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little - not in front of him of course. Poor baby! I’d never seen him like that! He’s such a rough and tumble boy. And it is such a cute giraffe. We can never fully predict what it is that will be scary to a child. And we can’t rush them to get over it. We can just be there with them and provide some security. Soon he forgot about it and was playing with another book. Later my husband tried to show it to him again. Nope- that little giraffe was still scary. He ran off.

Today his sister was playing with the book and he watched her quietly… and I watched them even more quietly. Soon he picked the book up and tried to explore the giraffe head with his finger. I guess his curiosity was piqued, and it was not so scary anymore.

For more information regarding toddlers and fear, Parents.com has a great article!

Sheila Cason, MD