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If he is afraid of monsters, teach him about heroes! Wonderful quote by CS Lewis:
Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.
Love this!
Hey there. So my child is the same age (April 2023) and we had a similar development over the past month or so. Part of it can be due to the Halloween season or even the simple fact that TV and toys have “monsters” associated. Monster cars, Dino monster, etc.
1. Take it as a positive milestone that your child is learning to associate with “big and scary” with Monster.
2. The CS Lewis post is a great one. When our son comes running to us saying “there’s a monster” we go back into the room he came from and say, “well let’s go fight it”
3. Finally, if you feel a sense of unease and this monster thing is creeping you out as well, a simple solution is to pray. If that is not something you or your family do, the. Consider taking the time to Chanel positive energy and focus on GOOD rather than feeding into fear.
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
A father of 2 under 2 ( 2-1/2 and 6 mo)
Some trauma, may have creeped up. Better to consult a psychologist.
Nobody freaks , and whether trauma has happened can only be told by a good psychologists. Someone asked for help, and someone else did.
Why are you getting so tense. Is trauma unreal? I have seen normal kids getting traumatised by things that were otherwise insignificant.
Very random solution but it worked great for us - we have pest control spray quarterly and our daughter's monster fear randomly cropped up right before they were coming to spray. My husband told our daughter that the "bug guy" also sprays for monsters to make sure they stay away. My daughter was even home when he came to spray and my husband asked him if he would spray for monsters too and he played along with it and told my daughter he had it all taken care of.
This is completely normal. You don’t need a psychologist or to stop media consumption. You just need to comfort him when he’s scared. Do a room check and get a night light. The most traumatic thing you can do is to treat him as anything other than a normal kid with fears. Look it up. This is common developmentally and part of them realizing there are things in life to be afraid of.
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Agreed, child psych is my background which is why I was saying it’s just a new developmental milestone unlocked ☺️ just looking for tips that can help him without impacting his morning sleep.
Classic fear in young childhood
Get your son a book about monsters; there’s so many of them
I found a list:
Classics and popular titles
Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley: A classic that helps children confront their fears by deconstructing a monster piece by piece.
The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone: A book with a hilarious and reassuring message, starring Grover from Sesame Street.
I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll: Follows a boy who needs a monster to help him sleep and has to find one when his regular one is on vacation.
There's a Monster in Your Book by Tom Fletcher: A playful book where the monster in the book interacts with the reader.
Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems: About a monster who is a terrible scarer and decides to become the best at being terrible instead of the scariest.
Interactive and creative
Nibbles: The Very Hungry Book Monster by Emma Yarlett: An interactive book where the monster has eaten its way through other books.
Myth Match: A Fantastical Flipbook of Extraordinary Beasts by Good Wives and Warriors: A flipbook that allows readers to mix and match the front and back halves of mythological creatures from around the world, as suggested by a Goodreads user.
Humorous and heartwarming
The Monsters' Monster by Patrick McDonnell: Tells the story of three monsters who argue about who is the biggest and baddest until they accidentally create an even bigger monster.
Monsters Never Get Haircuts by Marie-Hélène Versini: A funny picture book that looks at what monsters like and dislike to promote conversations about differences.
My Teacher Is a Monster! (No, I Am Not.) by Peter Brown: A story about a boy who thinks his teacher is a monster, but then finds out she's a lot more than he thought.
What Are Monsters Afraid Of?: A Funny Bedtime Story to Help Kids Overcome their Fear of Monsters by Carmen Parets Luque: A funny story that reverses the fear dynamic, showing that monsters can be scared too.
We have a hatch that turns off after a set amount of time. We also have a special blanket that makes him brave and invisible to monsters.
If the fear gets more specific, you can make or even buy monster spray (not joking, google will show many products available, mostly it's water with some essential oils that help calm you down).
I do recommend a night light though, something very soft so it doesn't cast shadows. And co-sleeping helps 100%, although may not be popular in your country.
Every child is different. What's done in one country may be strange to another country. If the child is healthy, happy, and thriving, you're doing parenting right.
As long as you're mindful of space and you're not under the influence of meds or anything else, co-sleeping is safe. It saves on frequent trips to get up during the night. The child feels secure. Feeding and care are much easier. No one else is needlessly woken up either.
This is normal for that age. Sometimes it lasts several years. With So many suggestions find what works and be consistent.
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So far, telling him mommy and daddy will never let monsters come in has worked. He self soothes by saying ‘mommy, daddy no mossers’ and my heart just breaks. A couple times that he has pointed where they are to me while he’s falling asleep, I just put on my phone’s flashlight and showed him there weren’t any. I also always call him a silly monster so maybe he’ll think they aren’t too scary. He points to my hand in one specific picture and says it’s a mosser, not sure why??
I love all of these ideas and will implement some if the issue progresses.
Oh we just became afraid of the dark too (same age!). We gave in and bought a hatch, so we can use the color to communicate wake up time - kills two birds with one stone!
I think it worked better for us because we didn't introduce it until he was older (we bought it a few weeks ago, and our LO turns 3 in a month) and able to understand. He does ask for me to turn it green at bedtime though 😅
Totally feel you on not being ready for them to have free access. We ended up heavily baby proofing his room and putting a child proof lock on his door, so he can get up, but can't leave his room until we get him. BTW I was super nervous to take the front of the crib off, but our guy loves his crib and doesn't even try to get out until we come in 🤷🏻♀️
Second the night light - try it in several spots to minimize the scary shadows.
Both of my kids hit this point but for a variety of reasons we just lay with them to fall asleep so they feel safe and secure.
Same. Doctor said night terrors are common at that age. We put one of those smart bulbs in a lamp and have it on a dim, red color. That way it’s bright enough to see, but not enough to keep him awake or mess with his sleep cycle. It works great. Sometimes he’ll come in our room but once he hits my bed he goes right back to sleep. When I wake up I just carry him back to his room.
There are dim enough lights that would solve the problem. Pitch black can be disorienting, and a tiny bit of light can help him visually confirm that there are no monsters.
We have Philips Hue light bulbs in our bedroom lamps and keep those on warm white at 1% brightness for the kids overnight. It's dimmer than moonlight imo.
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I thought that but they also cast more shadows! I actually put together that where he was showing me the monster was was actually where the blue light from the charger was reflecting onto the window shades. I blocked it with a tissue box and he calmed down. I did keep the door open after that and he fell asleep.
Developmentally right on time! Acknowledge the fear because it’s true in their eyes, offer mitigants (we check the house, lock the doors, the dog gets to sniff around their room while we’re doing bedtime). They are also each allowed a special nightlight of their choosing.
Sesame Street and monsters Inc helped me with my daughter. When monsters are viewed as friends then it's okay. That's not monsters who are the bad guys it's mean strangers. Monsters are furry friends
We always talked about being kind and that mean ppl weren’t allowed in our house. I have 3 boys (2 yrs apart ) and my husband went to his business when I got home from work so in the evening I was flying solo. I had to nip this problem immediately to regain my evening lol Anyway, fast forward- if one of them came out due to a monster…I’d say, oh let’s go take care of this (I joined him and purposefully said, ‘us’ to empower them) and as an authority to all monsters everywhere would go in and pretend to have a conversation with this belligerent child monster. Lol
I’d tell the monster, no you can’t stay tonight bc your not behaving and your scaring the kids. Thank you! And then id say, there did that help. My kid would say where’s the monster? I’d reply, didn’t you seen him leave through the window? It always worked.
This is a phase, don't read too much into it. My youngest was all about monsters from age 3-4.5, he was scared to sleep alone so we let him sleep with us, I even took it a step further and turned it to a joke by putting bed sheets over my head and pretend to be a monster or MUNTAAAA as he called it lol, we all had good laughs about it, he no longer talks about monsters.
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Omg my son calls them mossers with the tiniest lisp. So so cute.
Monster spray! (Water in a spray bottle) pretend that this magic spray will keep the monsters away. He can even keep it on his nightstand if he wants.
Kids have big imaginations, and it’s very real for him. So I don’t think tell him it’s not real, or basically invalidating his feelings is effective. However, you can also say something along the lines that as long as you’re here you won’t let anything happen to him.