Child Afraid of the Monsters

My daughter was about the same age when she did the same thing, (wow, lots of good ideas you got here!) But what I did was I got the vacuum and we (my daughter and I) sucked up the "monsters" (I also placed small pieces of all kinds of colored paper on the floor) and emptied the vacuum, "threw them out" it worked for her.

YOU know the monsters aren't real, but SHE thinks they are. You have to acknowledge the fear. What I did is take a can of room spray (Lysol) and told my kids it was "Monster Spray". I sprayed the closet, under the beds, everywhere, and told them that as long as they could smell the Monster Spray,it would keep the monsters away. Monsters HATED the smell and ran away from it. It worked like a charm, and the kids went to sleep without a problem!

I remember a suggestion to fill a spray bottle with water and call it something (not monster spray because that would acknowledge the existence of monsters, I suppose)...you might try calling it 'dream spray' and tell her that it will help her have good dreams. I also sprinkle imaginary dream dust on my 6-year old before bed. Maybe that will divert the monster issue for awhile? Good luck.

Have you let your child watch Monsters Inc. or there is a Veggie Tales Viedo that God is bigger than any monster.....My children have that same problem and every night we pray for God to surround them with a thousand angels and I also hung a really cute cross in their room that they think has special powers that protects them.....these things really seem to work for us.....good luck to you!!!!

The "Monster Spray" worked great for my little boy. I just added a drop of food coloring and a slight scent to tap water. It was always kept in a secret special place when not in use...so the monsters couldn't get it, of course.

GO AWAY BIG GREEN MOSTER by:Ed Emberley
My ex-fiance has a son and when we were together I would take care of him on weekends @ night since his dad worked. One day he ran to the bed and said that he was so scared because he just saw a monster in his room and he refused to go back in (he was 5) so he slept with me that night. The next day we went to the store in hopes to find a book that would help. That is when I found that book and with out him knowing I bought it. That night he went to his bed and laid down, I read him his story and wanted to see if it was just a one night thing. Within 10 min. he ran downstairs saying that he say the monster again. So I took him to my closet and pulled out the wraped book. I walked him to his bed and told him that this might do the trick. It was a very powerful think and once he opens it he will be able to feel the power in his hands (he loves the power rangers and Jetx so I implemented those things). He unwrapped it and said its a book and I told him yes its a spell book that makes monsters disapear!! So we read it that night and the next couple of nights for about a month and then one day I pulled out the book just out of habit and he said you know what I dont think I need that book anymore the monsters have been gone I just wanted to make sure that they would stay gone. He is 6 going on 7 and even though his father and I are no longer together his father tells me he still remembers that and talks about it. So I hope it makes a difference in your childs life!!!! Good luck!!!
T. R

The only 'monsters' a three yr old would be exposed to would be on Sesame Street...other than the horrible previews they have for rated 'R' movies that come on in between family shows like American Idol and such. There are some pretty scary previews mixed in...I try to turn down the volume when I leave the room in the evenings. My kids won't run to the TV if they don't hear that suspensful music! Mine started complaining about monsters in the room at about age 4 or 5 (recently). I told them there are no monsters in the world except the guila (sp?) monster that is really a lizard and doesn't live in Texas. If you show her a picture on your computer, she'll be more likely to believe you! Oh, and make the exception of Elmo if she's a fan!! You don't want to crush her feelings! If she's past Elmo, take her to a trip to the library or toy store and show her how puppets work. Then she'll know even the Sesame Street monsters aren't real. Good luck!

I use the "monster spray", "monster check" tactic. Have your grandchild "check" for monsters.
Every area that she thinks will have or might have a monster in/under/behind get out the "spray" & disinfect the area. The spray bottle is up to you. Imaginary, empty bottle etc...
It seems to work in my house. hopefully it will help.
Good Luck,
M.

I don't know how your granddaughter might react to this, but I've heard of people making "monster spray" (a little water and food coloring in a spray bottle). Before she goes to bed, ask her where the monsters show up. Then explain to her that you got this spray that keeps them away much like insect repellent works. They can't tolerate it at all and they are guaranteed to stay away. See if that works.

Another idea: Has she ever seen the movie "Monsters, Inc."? It's really cute, and I think it would help her to see that all monsters aren't bad. (The whole premise of the movie is that monsters train to scare little kids and that their fear is what fuels the monster society. A little girl who isn't afraid of monsters somehow slips into their world and wrecks havoc. You see, the monsters are afraid of her!!!) Anyway, it's a fun look at an age-old problem. The voices of the monsters are Billy Crystal and somebody else--can't remember who.

Hope this helps!

We always used lotion. Get a bottle, any kind, travel size is best and change the label. Like "monster medicine' or "monster be gone" or something like that. Each night put a small dot of lotion of a particular body part (ex. face or hand). Put it in the same spot each night. Make a big deal of it and in no time she will forget all about it and won't even need the lotion. Good luck. The spray is a great idea too.

I am so glad you asked this question, so I could read the responses. My daughter insists that monsters and ghosts are real, so I'm relieved that the responses respect the children's true fear and gave wonderful advice. Thanks so much!

You could try giving her a spray bottle of water to use as monster spray. She can spray the room before she goes to bed and keep the bottle on her nightstand just in case.

Put a lamp in her room with an odd color bulb and tell her that monsters are scared of blue lights, for example. That should keep her room safe of monsters.

W.,
In a nut shell, your granddaughter is normal. Developmentally, she is entering the "magical" stage where it is very hard to distinguish between her imagination and reality. Its also for children in this age range to believe they can fly and (my favorite) imaginary friends. The suggestion for a "air freshener monster irradicator" is wonderful.... it makes the child very powerful.
About the TV... although it can play a small part, the main culprit is the childs imagination. This too shall pass.
Good luck!
T. s.

my son which is now 5 still goes through this becasue of his sister and cousin. They tell him all kinds of stories about how dolls come alive and try to hurt you and stuff like that.

What I do is When they do this I get rid of the dolls that now scare him....my daughter gets upset about it but I really dont care because she is the one that made him scared in the first place telling lies about how and what the dolls do at night. Secondly with the monsters wezap them with the vaccum!!!! I'll go in there and he will tell me where the monsters are hiding and I get the vaccum and suck them away. As you can tell we have alittle fun in our house with monster tells because I can tell you that there is no dirt on his floor lol. After some time you can just show them that you vaccumed the floor and they will be fine with that, knowing that you took care of the monsters already for them. For boogie men its a little tuffer because they come from out side so my son says thanks to my daughter. We now have it to where my son helps with locking the doors that way he knows that the boogie man cant come in for the night.

Give the vaccum a try its really intertaining to watch their faces when you ask them if they want to try.

We have the same problem. My friend suggested,monster spray. Any type of spray and you go in her room and "spray the monsters away. Hope this works for you.

I'm so glad you asked this question. I have been dealing with this with my oldest son (3.5) as well. I guess I didn't realize it's a developmental milestone. I've tried to get him to say prayers, bark at them (his lovey is a Snoopy dog), fight them with his Transformers, telling him Daddy kicked them out (Daddy is a black belt). Nothing works. It sometimes takes him over an hour to fall asleep and lately he's been ending up in our bed a lot. I will have to try the monster spray. He has always had a very active imagination, so hopefully that will help.

We got "monster spray." I took a mini can of oust air fresherner...it is purse size and I got it from the checkout line at Walmart. I got some pictures of spider, snake, monster, scorpion and pasted them on a word document that I printed out and made a label for the can. My girls have fun spraying the monster spray in their closets and under the beds. Works wonders!

Tell her the only monster in that house is you and she better take her tail to sleep! Kids will come up with any excuse not to go to sleep. Now if you done turned the lights on, and the radio and she still refused to go to sleep, she's just playing a game with you, and I'd play right along with her.

Come on, she's three years old. If she insist on playing the game about the monster(s) tell her next time she sees the monster to send him in there with you and you'll handle him.

She needs to talk about her fear of monsters. Your responce should be no there is no such thing as monsters. Sometimes they see things on TV and they believe they are real. But if you explain that TV is just for fun and nothing to worry about it will make a difference. MY three children played happily in the house during thunder storms. I told them it was just noise and would not hurt them. I worried when claps of thunder shook the house. But why worry little children? I, also, treated the subject of monsters a little laughter and a swing in the air.

When my oldest was about that age we went through the same thing. We did the monster spray (water plus vanilla extract for smell) but we also made a special "monster proof" blanket. I asked him what he thought monsters were afraid of the most and which color was the monsters' least favorite. According to my son, light blue is the least favorite color for monsters because it reminds them of the sky during the day and they don't like daytime, and the things they are most afraid of are swords and love (swords for the obvious reason and love because "love is good"). After compiling the info, I went to the store and found a (cheap) light blue blanket (queen size for a twin bed so it hangs down all around the bed) and grabbed some yellow and red felt too. I cut out swords as big as my forearm from the yellow and hearts as big as my head from the red felt and sewed them on one side of the blanket. (We sprayed monster spray on it for good measure, of course.) The first night, we sprayed the closet and under the bed with our monster spray as usual and then he climbed into bed under his monster proof blanket - which protected him from any monsters that might have made it through the spray - and it worked! No monster problems from that time on, and the blanket was passed down to his little sister and brother as they hit their monster stages.

Good luck, I hope this helps!

Dear W.
I suffered terrible fear of the dark as a child.
The light and the radio are a very good idea and so is the fact that you stay awhile to reassure her.
Add to this a bedtime prayer - you can make it up - mention that God is taking care of her through the night and that she has guardian angels around her bed to keep her safe from harm.
And then really pray for her that the Lord will keep her safe and sound, free from any fear of the dark or monsters and that she may sleep peacefully.

My friends son, who I used to babysit, had the same problem. So before bed every night, I would do Monster Patrol. I took his wiffle ball bat and poked it around in the closet and under the bed and said things like "OK that's it, any monsters better get out now, I mean business" and then I'd say "Nope, no monsters in here." etc.

We also had a colored water bottle labeled "Monster Spray" you could probably name it something like "mosnter away" or "monster repellent" etc. We filled it with water (when he wasn't looking) and sprayed under the bed and in the closet to keep the monsters away.

This worked and kept the nightmares away and he fell asleep no problem!

A friend of mine went to the dollar store and bought a plastic sword that her son slept with to defend himself at night in case of monsters. She told him that there weren't any and watched Scooby Doo to explain that they were people dressed up like monsters like Halloween. He felt better about things, but having the sword just in case seemed to help the best. Good Luck!!
T.

I am currently going through this with my 3 yo daughter.

My family therapist suggested we find the strongest smelling dollar can of air freshener we can find and cover the label with construction paper labled with Monster B Gone. Then when there is a Monster in her room we let her spray it at the monster to get rid of it. The smell gives her a tangible way to tell it is working...

Good luck

My son also started doing this - I told him I was going to buy some monster spray that will keep the monsters away. I got a can of lysol and sprayed it in his room at night before bed. I worked like a charm. No more monsters. Good luck.

HI W.,

I used rose water spray. It was a scent I already used a lot so my kids were used to it as a "mommy scent." Any non-toxic, good familiar scent will do. I would spray their room and under the bed, etc wherever they felt scared of monsters or just plain scared of the dark. Monsters don't like good mommy like smells, so the spray helped my kids feel safe. When we evacuated for Rita, I brought the spray with us and even though we were away from home for 3 weeks, the kids still felt the comfort of home.
If this doesn't work right away, it may take a few tries. Good luck!
M.

I use to have that problem with my daughter when she was around the same age, but I have to ask what kind of movies or tv shows does your granddaugher watch? In our case our daughter would imagine seeing something similar to the movies she had seen recently. So we decided to control what she watched before going to bed. We would explain that there is no such thing as ghost and to pray to the guardian angel to keep her safe. Ever since then she got into the habit of blessing each other before going to bed.

I would recommend not to use night lights since they create shadows in the room, in which case allows the children to imagine otherwise.

Best of luck

My 3 year old had the same problem. We got a couple of silly books about monsters and made it into something silly. Instead of trying to convince my three year old that there is no such thing as monsters, we brainstormed about how silly they are. He decided that the monsters were in his room because they were looking for a snack, and left something out for them one night. I cant find the book right now to tell you what its called, but the little boy feeds the monster lots of different things and finally gets fed up and tells them they have to "get out!". Its silly and cute and way to funny to be afraid the sorry little monsters.
I find it is important to address her feelings without making it an "issue". Let her color a silly monster picture or decorate a sock monster puppet. Maybe go on a monster hunt before bed. Letting her see her mom overly concerned could backfire into her fears being justified. Keep it light and silly. Keep a steady bedtime schedule to make sure she is not trying to prolong going to sleep.
Good Luck!

My sister, when she was around your granddaughters age, wailed nights on end about this "monster" she could see at the end of her bed. She described it as one of those soft cuddly Gremlins --before they turn into the ugly thing after midnight when you feed it! She screamed and cried uncontrollably and no amount of lights on, music, teddybears helped. Mom eventually had to sit with her til she fell asleep. I believe she was having Night Terrors. You may want to consult a professional maybe, but try rocking by her bedside...or come up with some kind of story, a story that she will feel safe on. For example, I knew of a friend whose mother passed down a "good luck charm". It was an old ring her mother had for years, and she told her that whenever she wore it, she would be safe and protected and nothing could harm her...like a shield. Maybe there is something that you have that you could give to her.
Good luck!

We use the air freshener as well. I can't remember where I heard it from but I started using it when my twins were about three or four I guess. I buy a can from the dollar store and I actually tear off all the plastic label around the can. We call it "Scary Spray" and we spray it every night around the room. I still use it occasionally for my boys, but my daughter (who is almost 3) uses it every night. She has a very active imagination and started talking about scary monsters a few months back.

The "scary spray" really works! They can help spray it and can immediately smell that it is working!