Rex 3 years
Part of growing up is learning to be brave. Whatever life throws at us, we hopefully develop the courage to deal with difficulties and come out a better person. All children have fears and anxieties, this is normal. These fears will change as the child grows and develops. Usually between the ages 4 to 6 children's fears are not based on reality i.e. monster, ghosts, etc. It is the job of parents and grandparents to help their child feel safe no matter the fear.
Rex and Poppy
Our son Vince, Rex's father, made a good attempt at helping with the fear of monsters. The following is Vince's version of what happened as posted on his Facebook page:
Welcome back to #daddyfail blog. In tonight's post I fail at warding off monsters and aliens.
Background: Rex reports this fear and I had the genius idea of using my special mixture of "monster repellent". I make an elaborate display of spraying the "repellent" around his room.
Rex: "Daddy that's just Febreeze"
Me: (nervous) "No, no, this is my best mixture of monster repellent ever."
Rex: "Daddy it even smells like Febreeze. It's Febreeze, I can read it."
Me: (crushed & defeated) "I had to use the Febreeze bottle to mix it in because it's so powerful."
Rex: "Well at least it smells nice."
Me: "Ok.....well I guess we are done here."
Rex: "It's ok Daddy, you tried."
Daddy & Rex
This isn't really a fail because Vince took his son's fears seriously. Rex can feel secure in knowing his father cares enough to try and make him feel safe. But, just in case those monsters come back, the grandparents come to the rescue with their patented formula.
A thought to ponder: Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the will to face it.
Another sweet and funny post. You'd think you'd been blogging for years, you are such a natural!
ReplyDeleteThese photos are just adorable - I can't believe how much Rex's hair has darkened since he was three (and happy belated birthday to Rex!) I just loved this: "Ok Poppy, but be careful, and be brave." It sounds like something Christopher Robin might say to Pooh - or vice versa. :-) And Vince's "Febreeze" story is a riot! What a great dad (a reflection of the compassionate child-rearing skills of his own parents, no doubt!) - yet still he was so busted!! Even when frightened, Rex manages to keep his wits about him. :-)
Thanks again for the kind words, I'm really enjoying the blogging.
DeleteVince's hair was light like Rex's, then got darker, of course now he doesn't have any, poor guy.
I've taken so many photos of the grand kids, just in 8 years, I could probably do photo posts for years.
Hopefully we were a good influence on both our kids. I sometimes think they turned out well in spite of us.:-)