Afraid of Peter

[908874]

Here's something that's been in my mind for a while. Since around age 4 my son has been terrified of Peter Rabbit because Peter's dad gets put in a pie. When he first understood what that meant, he covered his ears and started crying and telling me to stop reading. Mind you, I didn't explain what that meant.

 

Since then, he will not listen to Peter Rabbit. I read it to his sister but I make sure he isn't aware or he gets nervous. 

 

This happened with the Three Little Pigs too (early on I read a more classic version) which I used to like as a kid and was startled to find he was afraid of it. So I haven't even tried Hansel and Gretel or other books with obvious scary parts. We listened to an audio version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We were in the car and I was thinking about something else when my son yelled: "Turn it off!" - there was something about a witch's brew or cauldron or something like that. Same thing with the series Stink - in one book Stink had a newt that ended up in the garbage disposal. I'm like really? This was our third Stink book and he was terrified and horrified about the newt.

 

 I am sure it will get better with age. Right now if he gets scared about something I reassure him and move on to a different book or story.

 

Anyone else have an overly sensitive child? Any tips on how to overcome this?

[albeto.]

Yes (older now), and we did just as you are doing. We took these things at his pace, ever so gently, and intermittently, introducing mildly uncomfortable topics to help him learn how to process his feelings. Along the way, we gave him vocabulary to describe his feelings so that he could learn to identify what he was going through, articulate himself, and advocate for his needs in a socially appropriate way (ie, polite, age appropriate "escape phrases" to avoid something that was too uncomfortable). We talked about what a big heart he has, how very sympathetic he is to other people. We did this in order to help him understand why he reacted this way, as well as in hopes of steering him towards activities and events that would take his innate sense of justice and help him do something practical with it. In part, we did this by exposing our own thoughts and feelings along the way so he could see the practical application of what we were talking about. For example, I might exclaim how someone said something at playgroup that really made me sad. I wouldn't say what it was, but just mentioned how sad it made me. When my kids asked what I did, I'd say I nodded my head politely, said, "I'm sorry," because sometimes that's all you can do. Then I excused myself to get a drink. That way I was a friend to the person who needed to talk about something sad, but I didn't get myself in over my head. Baby steps, you know? 

 

[rwilk]

DD is also a pretty sensitive kid, and I can sometimes be surprised by the things that upset or bother her.  I think a lot of early childhood literature (especially classics), can be really tough on her emotionally.  We generally try to avoid books that upset her, because there are enough tough things to deal with in daily life.  There are also enough books that are randomly upsetting that I see no real reason to expose her to ones I know will bug her.  Dahl is a good example of someone whose books I love, but who I know DD would be very upset by. 

 

We still find plenty to read.  I want her to see stories and reading as pleasant and happy as much as possible.  The time to challenge her while reading is, for our family, much much later. There are so many gentle stories out there that we can enjoy.

 

And as she is growing, she is getting a bit better with this.  But it goes up and down with what's going on in her life. 

 

[desertflower]

Oh I remembered the first time I encountered that. My child was 2yo and watching Bolt. My child covered their own eyes during the part when the building is on fire. People thought my child was scared and that my child didn't know that tv was fake. I didn't know what to think.

 

I called the nurse. Lol. Now I know my child is just sensitive to things.

 

I just read Charlie and the Chocolate factory to my 2 oldest. They were concerned what was happening to the children. I explained that they are going to be alright in the end.

 

I guess I do that a lot with them. I would explain what is going on (or i guess you could say I spoil it for them). I avoid a lot of shows because they are sensitive.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't have any advice. Just in the same boat.

[Arctic Bunny]

My DS is nine and has just stopped crying at cartoon movies. Remember Epic? Riding through the woods on a deer's antler? Cried and cried. Frozen? The movie that all those little girls loved? Buried his head in my chest and sobbed. I thought taking a break to the bathroom would help. Nope. Thought we were going to have to leave the theatre. Brave? Throwing the medal into the cauldron? Traumatizing. Transformers? With the dead people, loud noises and explosions? Fine. No problem. Loved it.

 

I can't help you, but I certainly know where you're coming from.

[908874]

:) Yes - my son manages to love certain shows that I think should be upsetting (like some super-hero type things) yet for some reason I never understood he is afraid of Peg + Cat from PBS. 

 

I'm sure he'll grow out of it. When I was a kid my youngest uncle (who is 8 years older than me) scared me about the movie Goonies. I've never watched it. To this day. I am otherwise a reasonable adult ;) I think.

[Kerileanne99]

I have one like that. The seemingly random things that set her off have me utterly confused. She is six now, and we still can't really watch movies. Documentaries, real things, history? Zero problem. She can discuss thoughtfully very deep topics- yet still freaks out in the mildest of kids movies or cartoons.

 

When we would try to read classic fairy tales she would literally slam the book shut on my fingers. We still haven't managed The Three Little Pigs or Little Red Riding Hood because she is terrified of the wolf.

The first movie we tried to do was Cinderella. Nope, she sobbed hysterically because Cinderella was treated horribly--and then even harder because poor Cinders lost her SHOE😳

[GailV]

I remember the day years ago when older dd suddenly realized that Rapunzel was taken away from her mother.  She was horrified.  We stopped mid-story, I tried to interest her in coming up with new endings for the story (she wasn't interested), and we simply led a Rapunzel-free life for several years.