I didn't know where to put this, but here it goes. My son is 3 and recently he has been deathly afraid of bedtime, he sleeps in his own bed in our room. He keeps pointing toward the doorway saying scary, the mask. I dont know what that is about, we dont let him watch scary movies, and he was fine up until that night out of nowhere. Now when we're on our way home in the car, he'll say he dont want to come home. He'll be okay for a while on his own when i put on one of his favorite movies, but then he always comes back to me. Now he crawls into our bed when he wakes up during the night. Any suggestions on to what i can do, to get him sleeping in his own bed again?Any ideas what might be making him scared?
I don't know what it could be, maybe during the day when he's feeling okay ask him to point out what's scary so you can get rid of it together.
My son recently started getting scared in his room. He had never slept with a stuffed animal before, but I gave him his Spiderman stuffed doll. Now he's fine, he just cuddles up to Spiderman and Spiderman "protects" him. Is there something that comforts your son that you can give to him to keep in his room?
yeah we tried elmo, spiderman, the hulk, all the things that he likes, and still nothing. We've asked him what is scaring him, and all he says is "the mask" we're pretty sure thats what he's saying, but he could possibly be saying something else. The place is the doorway, and he just wont sleep anymore, now he's sick, and i'm wondering if it has anything to do with that, but maybe not, my mind may be playing tricks on me.
Is there any way he may have seen something scary (on t.v.) somewhere else?
I don't let my kids watch scary movies either, but when they go to their grandparents they used to let them and then they would be scared at night, too.
Maybe you could try getting him a nightlight if he doesn't have one? That's what I did with my kids. Also, the Spider Man thing like naivete said really helped.
Well, I wish I could be more helpful.
my son is three too. he hates the dark, and ghosts. he tells me they are scarry and if he sees a ghost, or is in the dark he screams and yellls help.
I think three is the age when some children become more aware of their surroundings, and in some cases more fearful. Ian used to climb like a little monkey, now he's afraid to go any higher than about 4 feet on a jungle gym. He also started sleeping with 'Yellow Puppy' and Blankie around three. My younger brother went through this too. In some cases it may be linked to a traumatic event, changes in routine, even seasonal changes could be a factor. My brother grew out of it around 5.
yah my son loves his blankie for comfort, even though its patched up...lol
My son is three, sleeping with me, and still wakes up occasionally screaming about monsters with 'scary claws and mean feet.'
I think it's a three thing.
Zoe, 3.5 years old, has started having nightmares about monsters as well. She won't tell me anythign else about them "because it's to scary to talk about" (as she said this morning). But, I put a stuffed lepord toy in bed with her and told her that it would help keep her safe, and we got a cheap nightlight and put one in her room and one in the bathroom.
I also got a bunch of books about monsters -- age appropriate -- some that are scaryish but where the hero/ine wins ("See, it's a bit scary, but it ends happily), and some about nice monsters. We talk a lot about the difference between nice and mean ones and what you should do when you run into a mean monster.
I realize yours is about a mask, not a monster, but maybe you could find pictures of masks on-line, or make masks and run around in them.
I also cleaned her room, it's spotless -- there is not a THING on her floor, and that seemed to help a lot as well.