Okay fellow moms and dads. I need words of wisdom on fighting off a 5-year old's irrational fear of the Dreaded Closet Monster. Alec is terrified of the scary things living in his closet and the fear is getting worse instead of better. Anyone have a tried and true tactic for fumigating closet monsters from homes? I'm getting desperate!
Good F Words: Family
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Fighting Closet Monsters
Okay fellow moms and dads. I need words of wisdom on fighting off a 5-year old's irrational fear of the Dreaded Closet Monster. Alec is terrified of the scary things living in his closet and the fear is getting worse instead of better. Anyone have a tried and true tactic for fumigating closet monsters from homes? I'm getting desperate!
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5 comments:
Wow that is not great. When Peyton was younger we gave her a spray bottle to keep in her bed and it was "monster spray" that seemed to help. Peyton's closet also has a light in it which is handy, we just leave it on. Could you hook up a light in it?
Maria, That's a good idea. We might use the water bottle idea, tweaked a bit for a 5 year old boy. Thanks!
I have heard about "monster spray" before. Laura always sleeps with her closet light on and she also sleeps with a pair of my pj's. Kinda sweet and strange--but she likes to "smell"me!
My suggestion would be to take some time during the day when the young man's bedroom is flooded with light. You'll need some time, so there'll hopefully be a nice, long sunny morning to accomplish this task.
Empty out his closet. Everything. Then let him examine it closely--every nook and cranny so he knows the exact look of it. Then, set a "trap" or "monster repeller" or spray the trusty "monster spray" to discourage the presence of bad things there. Perhaps the "trap" or "repeller" might be a favorite action figure or other beloved toy, or an object he (or you and he together) selected or created.
Stress the fact that the love contained in the object before placing it in the closet has great powers and will terrify the most scary of monsters because love is stronger than they are and they fear it.
Then, to finalize the process, give him a big old hug and tell him monsters don't understand how powerful hugs are because they have never been hugged and are afraid of things they don't know about. The power of that hug is in the object you just placed in the closet.
I was fortunate in that I never had to battle fearsome closet monsters but once and (don't laugh)
my youngest of three sons eliminated the monster by capturing it (even though it was invisible)--with my assistence--and flushing it down the toilet.
He even waved "bye-bye" to it as the water swirled the monster out of his world.
We never had problems with closet monsters again.
8 )
Good luck!!
This reminds me of when I was 5 yo and I was afraid of the dark. I think it all started because my mom would hang my dad's white shirts in the doorway to dry at night and I would wake up and see them fluttering like ghosts, and having an over-active imagination anyway, it began an obsession with ghosts and witches. So, my dad began sitting up with me for awhile before I went to bed in the dark hallway where the heater was on and shirts were fluttering,and we would talk and then he would take me to the window at the end of the 2nd story hallway where we would watch the cars go by. I knew every make and model of every car back then because of these special nights together. Now, my dad is 81 and lives with us and we've had many special times together, but those still stand out as the MOST SPECIAL times between this daughter and her dad. So maybe if you or Mike would spend some time with him after the lights are out, the whole monster thing would just vanish. The worst that can happen is that he will have some very special memories with mom and dad that will last a lifetime!
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