Thursday, May 5, 2011

Sharks, Dracula and Zombies, Oh My!

What scared you as a kid?  For me it was watching the old black and white version of Dracula when I was five.  It made quite the impression on me.  For months after I saw it I was scared to have my windows open in my room.  I didn't say anything about my fear, but I was just sure that Dracula was going to come in my open window that summer and get me.

Nick watched Jaws when he was about six and was scared to swim for the following summer.  Even if the only place to swim was a local land locked lake.  Nick was positive that Jaws was out there and going to get him.  Like many people after that movie came out.  Although most of them wouldn't go in the ocean, not a lake.  Hey he was only six.

Nick and I made a mistake Easter weekend.  We let Turbo play a violent Zombie game at a friend's house.  It was pretty graphic and while we thought Turbo could handle it, later that night we ended up with a scared seven year old in our bed.  And for several nights after that Turbo would wake up after having nightmares.
We did not know what to do--I couldn't set up camp in Turbo's room and we could not get him past the fear and the graphic images that seemed burned in his brain.  Then, after looking at a couple of sites online about how to help kids get over nightmares I came up with a plan.

I sat down with Turbo and told him he needed to think about the zombies he saw a bit differently.  When ever the images started to scare him, he needed to think about the zombies in a funny or silly way--imagine them being attacked by kittens, see them with clown noses and big feet.  Imagine they were stuck in glue and couldn't move.  Anything that would make them silly, not scary.  And anything that would give him control over them, instead of the images controlling him.  He has not had a nightmare since.

Now I just need to remember this technique when Bruiser has his first nightmare.

I think this qualifies as both a Not-so-proud mommy moment--for letting him play the game in the first place--and a Proud Mommy Moment for figuring out a way for him (and me) to sleep again.





Go link up your own proud (or not so proud) mommy moment with Kmama or Emmy Mom.

11 comments:

  1. I think it's a good moment, way to handle it!

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  2. Oh that is a great idea to help with nightmares. And yes, I think you hit it on the head when you said it was a proud and not proud moment. But it ended on a good note.
    Thanks for linking up!!

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  3. I was always scared of unreasonable things. Like random blobs (I watched The Blob too much) and I used to think sharks were in swimming pools. So weird.

    Oh and I gave you a blog award!

    http://allstarme.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/dude-i-won-an-award/

    Because I love your blog I chose to do this. Hope you don't think I'm spamming you or anything. :)

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  4. That definitely qualifies as PMM! Way to think outside the box and come up with a solution to the problem!

    Thanks for linking up!

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  5. i hope that it works for you. I love that we have google as a mom tool now.

    G loves scooby doo and i worry about it scaring him.

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  6. Definetely a good moment!

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  7. You never know what's going to scare your kids or how movies and games will affect them.
    What's great is you were able to turn the situation around! Great mom moment!

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  8. I love that solution! My girls have had various things scare them- after seeing something or other Casey had to take a dog in with her to shower- maybe the original Psycho (she bribed the dog with a hot-dog... every night for 3 years)

    Just fyi- Plants vs Zombies is very kid friendly and has an adorable little song- pretty sure if your son saw it he'd have that zombie image to turn to. Ian (4) loves it.

    They still watch and love scary movies(but they are older now 17-27) and watch Disney movies til they get over it - they will wake a sister if they are around and make her watch with them.

    I have so many not proud mommy moments it's scary, but all we can do is hopefully learn from our mistakes and move on.

    Different things scare different kids (and adults) so what works in one case may or may not work in another.

    Again, totally love your solution, going to borrow it if need be for Ian.

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  9. When I was four, my parents foolishly let me read a book called "Monsters in the Closet". It was intended for kids who were afraid of the closet and featured silly-looking monsters that were supposed to be funny.

    Unfortunately, I wasn't afraid of the closet. It had never occurred to me that there could be monsters in the closet - at least not until I read the book. I had a nightlight for the next 10 years.

    You handled the video game well. Hopefully he'll remember that technique the next time he sees something scary.

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  10. Sharks, zombies, and spiders are my main fears, even to this day. I hate swimming in lakes-there may not be sharks but there are some big fish with huge teeth! As a kid I was also afraid of Frankenstein and cemeteries cuz I was afraid a hand would come up out of the grave and grab my ankle. I was also deathly afraid of fire as a kid. I had a lot of fears.

    Good job on the nightmare thing! I wish I'd have thought of that when my kids were young.

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  11. For me at that age? it was Fire! I like the way you are handling the Zombies. I don't know what the Zombie craze is, but it's here I guess?

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