Extreme Fears, Sudden

[daycare]

Please help...

My nephew (5ys old) has developed a sudden fear of things that he once used to love. Now when I say fear, it's actually quite more than that. It's to the point of anxiety.

My nephew is a very very smart child. Probably one of smartest ones I have ever met and I am not just saying this because he is my nephew.

Yesterday he had 3.5 hours of screaming, shaking, almost throwing up due to a new fear of frogs. They were going to leave the house to go grocery shopping and there was frog on the porch. After seeing it, this is what happened.

My sister is known to feed into things, but every week it is something else. Last week it was lady bugs, the week before that it was snails.

My Nephew used to love love love these things and was always an explorer looking for them.

The only thing that I can think of is that he recently lost his preschool teacher. the teacher was fired without much notice and left the school. I am wondering if this has something to do with it?>

Anyone ever deal with this? How did you deal with it and what do you think it could be caused from?

I am thinking maybe my sister should have him to go and talk to someone. I told her to talk to his teacher at the school now.

any ideas? Advice? thanks so much for reading....

[Breezy]

Could he have seen a TV program that made him scared of these things? Like animal planet has a segment called when animals attack. Or could someone else have projected their fear onto him?

[daycare]

Originally Posted by Breezy

Could he have seen a TV program that made him scared of these things? Like animal planet has a segment called when animals attack. Or could someone else have projected their fear onto him?

NO he has not. Infact my sister does not even own a TV?

[kendallina]

My daughter (3 y.o) developed a sudden and extreme fear to snowmen of all things this past December. Her fear (and, yes anxiety--shaking, crying, screaming, hiding) evolved into a fear of seeing Santas and then just any man on tv and her fear included my own dad when he wore a certain hat (her fear of him lessened when he took off the hat ). She also had weird fears of other random things during this time.

We were completely confused and couldn't believe how extreme and sudden her fears were. It's been about 3 months since they first started and she still has a toned-down version to some of these fears every now and then, but overall, it's gotten a lot better.

When I researched fears in children I found that it could be considered a problem if it's extreme and on-going (several months) and/or if it greatly impacts their daily life (like, freaking out about going outside in case they see a worm or something). My daughter's fears definitely impacted her daily life, but only for about 2 weeks and have since lessened greatly. I hope the same for your nephew! How long has it been going on?

[daycare]

Originally Posted by kendallina

My daughter (3 y.o) developed a sudden and extreme fear to snowmen of all things this past December. Her fear (and, yes anxiety--shaking, crying, screaming, hiding) evolved into a fear of seeing Santas and then just any man on tv and her fear included my own dad when he wore a certain hat (her fear of him lessened when he took off the hat ). She also had weird fears of other random things during this time.

We were completely confused and couldn't believe how extreme and sudden her fears were. It's been about 3 months since they first started and she still has a toned-down version to some of these fears every now and then, but overall, it's gotten a lot better.

When I researched fears in children I found that it could be considered a problem if it's extreme and on-going (several months) and/or if it greatly impacts their daily life (like, freaking out about going outside in case they see a worm or something). My daughter's fears definitely impacted her daily life, but only for about 2 weeks and have since lessened greatly. I hope the same for your nephew! How long has it been going on?

it started about two months ago. It is not a daily thing, more of a weekly thing.

It sounds very similar to what your daughter experienced.

the only change in his life is his teacher

[Michael]

Originally Posted by daycare

the only change in his life is his teacher

Can you tell us more about the teacher? You also wrote last year about a child like this. Is it the same child? http://daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31977

[daycare]

Originally Posted by Michael

Can you tell us more about the teacher? You also wrote last year about a child like this. Is it the same child? http://daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31977

I am not too sure how close he was to his teacher, but the teacher was male.

My sister was crying when they let the teacher go, as he was a great one she said and all of the kids loved him so much. BUT my sister is very emotional...lol....My sister is also a teacher of 7th-12 grade and a University Professor at UofO.

The teacher was let go because even though no children were ever hurt under his care, the school felt that he did not watch the children well enough. Blah balh blah that sounds like horse poo to me. I told my sister that I think it might have been something else. Men in genreal are way more free range than women and I am sure they knew that when they hired him.

The teacher was pulled into the office on a Tuesday and was let go on the spot. He was able to go and say goodbye to the kids and that is all.

My sister is not married anymore. BUT her and her ex are very good together and raise my nephew very well. I call my sister and her ex Free lovin Hippies..lol

I don't know too much more about the teacher or the situation...

thanks Michael for responding...

[daycare]

Originally Posted by Michael

Can you tell us more about the teacher? You also wrote last year about a child like this. Is it the same child? http://daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31977

lol no that was my niece...hahaha I had her in my care for a few weeks while her mom looked for childcare for her.

It turns out that I was right about it. She was afraid of loud noises because her parents fought all of the time. Screaming and yelling. At the time she started my daycare they had just separated.

Wow how do you find those old threads so darn fast....lol

AND what is wrong with my niece and nephews.....lol

[KEG123]

So weird, something like this just happened (not quite SO extreme) to one of my daycare boys and spiders. (Though, he thinks ALL bugs are spiders) So it's kinda like, all bugs freak him out. Seriously today we were outside and a little random fly flew and touched his finger he SCREAMED and said OUCH! and started bawling. O.o