4 year old terrified of Ghosts! Any advice?

**Blueberry Crumble** · 03-03-2011 12:47

Well, good mummy I am! About 2 months ago I let my 4 year old watch Ghost busters, and now he is terrified of ghosts and monsters. It is at the point where he cant be anywhere on his own- even the bathroom and toilet! I haveto chapperone him every time he goes to the toilet because he is scared of ghosts, and we live in a tiny house!

He wont play outside on his own. Follows me EVERYWHERE! I cant even have a shower without him being in there.

One of us sits on the floor in his room while he falls asleep, then in the middle of the night he comes into our room and spends the rest of the night sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

I dont know how to handle it. I have explained numerous times that he has nothing to be scared of, but it isnt sinking in. Ive even tried bribing him. He just refuses to believe that there is nothing to be scared of!

Has anyone elses children been through this? It has been about 2 months now and we are all over it. I have actually made an appointment for him to see a child psychologist in 3 weeks so I can get some ideas about what to do to get him past this stage!!!!

**mumsies** · 03-03-2011 13:06

Sorry to hear about your situation, unfortunatly some children are more prone to be fearfull of these things then others. I'm sure you have but make sure you cut out all media and stories that reinforce the 'scary' aspect of ghosts and monsters.
Again not sure if you've tried this, read a book something silly like 'there's a hippopotamus sitting on my roof eating cake' (first one to come to my head!) and just mention afterwards how funny made up things can be, becasue a hippo couldn't really eat cake on someone's roof, have a good giggle about other made up things and just casually mention how things like hippos on roofs and ghosts and funny monsters are all just made up things to tell good stories. Do this a couple of times for a couple of weeks and see if he starts getting the idea.
Instead of reinforcing fear by constantly mentioning it, maybe take him out for some fun activities and build up his confidence. Also let him know it's okay to be scared, everybody is scared of things, but teach him ways to dispel his fears by focusing on something nice (sing a special song, have a teddy to hug, whistle, a picture of mum and dad in his room he can put in bed with him etc).
Hopefully this helps!

**Girl X** · 03-03-2011 13:07

Originally Posted by SuperTrooperVagiDuper

Honestly if it were me I would get ds to call ghost busters lol ( dial a friend) then get said friend to come over in full ghost buster gear and go through the house and get rid of the ghosts

really put it on and make it sound cheesy cos to a kid it would be awesome

That's a great idea!

I remember being terrified of Daleks when I was a kid, and my dad made me feel better about it by talking at length about the 'technicality' of the Dalek suits, and saying how the actors would get so hot in there, etc. That helped me to understand that it wasn't real, and to get interested in it from a more 'rational' perspective.

(Or so I remind myself now, when I watch Dr Who...)

Maybe something like that could help too? Talking about how they make the film/ the backstage stuff.

**PurpleStars** · 03-03-2011 13:08

I wonder if the ghostbusters DVD would have any outtakes or 'the making of' type special features on it. Maybe there is something on there showing the special effects/makeup that could show him they're not real? I don't know if that might help?

**nat278** · 03-03-2011 13:09

I saw an episode of super nanny once and I really loved what they did for one girl who like your LO was scared of monsters at night time being in her room so supernanny got the parents and child together at bed time bought them all magic wands and they said 'a magic spell' and danced around and chased the monsters out of the house.

The idea behind it was simple get on the childs level play along and validate their feelings and face the problem.

Another idea I have heard of is fill a water spray bottle with water with a fragrance in it or colour of some kind (that won't stain) and label it 'monster spray' so the child can spray it and smell it and feel like they have protected them selves from said 'monsters/ghosts'

I also like supers idea above.

**beebs** · 03-03-2011 13:30

My 4 year old is extremely anxious and fearful. Its a new thing every day - monsters features alot as does dinos, he is terrified of the shower. He won't have one. wont go near the bath on his own and will only take a bath with his 18 month old brothers. He ends up screeching and terrified and shaking if he gets too close.

Anyhow - a Dr recently noticed that he seamt quite anxious and mentioned play therapy - hadn't hear of it myself - but am going to look into it. If that doens't work I am seriously thinking of taking him to a child psychologist.

**tiggermamma** · 03-03-2011 14:25

Hypnotherapy is great for children and you can do the treatment yourself while they are sleeping.

http://www.sleeptalkchildren.com/

This lady was recommended to me by the Intstitute of Hypnotic Science and I think what she does is really great. You don't have to meet with her you can do a consultation by phone.

Separately I would also be aware of the idea of having your house 'cleaned' for any lingering energy that your sensitive little babes might be picking up on.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Energy-Cle...ome&id=1239614

There are loads of articles on smudging or cleansing your home and a good Feng Shui practitioner should be able to help if you can afford it.

Best of luck.

**London** · 03-03-2011 14:33

I love some of these ideas!

Id probably do as a PP said and actually 'call Ghostbusters'. That was my first thought when I read the OP. Love the spray idea aswell.

**TeenyT** · 03-03-2011 14:53

I found personalising the fear helped my 4 year old which I guess would be similar to the play therapy already mentioned. She was scared of imaginary things like ghosts and also very real things like spiders, so we decided to give them names. Very silly names. Then, for the ghost who we named Spewy Gus, we called his mum (you could call Ghostbusters) and then I told DD to tell Gus out loud that his mum wanted him at home and he was in BIG TROUBLE for scaring DD. After we did that for a few nights, Spewy Gus never came back and all was well.