Kids seeing ghosts? WWYD?

[Baby_Cakes]

Hi mamas!  I've got an interesting one, and just wanted advice on what you other mamas would do.

What do you do about ghosts?  Specifically your kids claiming to see or hear ghosts?  

DD is 2.5 and has just recently (in the past month or so) been saying that ghosts are upstairs or ghosts are in her room.  It's very unsettling, b/c I'm not sure where she really learned about ghosts other than just what was brought up on Halloween this past year, and that was very gentle stuff b/c we didn't want to scare her.  We've never had to deal with death (knock wood) so it's not as though she's been through anything where this would have come up.

Sometimes during the day she closes the door to upstairs and won't let me open it b/c the ghosts are up there.  She'll do the same with her bedroom door.  

So, as for what I do about it, I guess I've been going along with it to a degree.  I don't tell her she's being silly, instead I ask her about them, and she says they are happy ghosts.  But sometimes they scare her.  DH asked her what color they were and she said black and white.  At night before bed, if they're in her room (according to her) I throw on the big light and say, "Ok, ghosts, Nora is going to bed now, everybody out!" and Nora will happily go in and climb in bed.  

So -- yeah.  Anyone's kid do stuff like this?  What did you do?  You think I'm handing it ok?  I'm not sure if she's really seeing something or if it's her imagination.  I'm not sure I believe in spirits, but man, sometimes I just get creeped out!!

[firewoman]

My daughter won't sleep in her room because she said there is a ghost on the ceiling.  I was in there laying in the bed with my younger daughter and she started pointing at the ceiling, too.  There is nothing there but she continually pointed up there.  It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  So, we are seeing dead people over here too.

[ssh]

My DD calls her imaginary friends ghosts or ghostgirls. We've never talked about what people mean by the word. She's gotten the idea that ghosts are invisible or maybe pretend, from halloween books. Just because she's using the word ghost doesn't mean it's anything more than an imaginary person. Lately she's had an invisible wolf friend who was at the dinner table because he didn't have enough to eat in the forest.

[Turquesa]

It hasn't happened to us, but I think you're doing a great job of handling it!  You're validating her and offering to comfort her when she's afraid.  I would be creeped out too, but what you're doing is really the best way to deal with it, IMHO. 

[JBaxter]

My boys have seen angels over the years.   Specifically my grandmother.  She would visit them often.     The oldest was a toddler when she passed.  For years he would wake and tell me gma came floating in his room ( pointing to the exact spot she was) and she would smile and wave at him.  My nephew would tell my sister the same story.  

[sunnygir1]

My dd has been seeing things off and on for a couple years.  She's 4 now.

The first night really creeped me out.  Dh was working late and 2yo dd and I were at the dinner table.  She kept looking at our front (glass) door and asking me about the girl that was there.  It was winter, and she said the girl wanted to come in because she was cold.  It went on for a long time until I finally stopped talking to her about it and put her to bed.  In that instance, going along with her and encouraging her to tell the girl to go away if she was scaring her (dd didn't want to let her in because she was scared) didn't work.  I don't know how much of it was real to her and how much of it was a game to her.

Now she talks about trolls in her bedroom at night.  We started a solid bedtime routine (snack, bath, stories, toilet, teeth, hair, jammies, candle, bed) the candle element is that we light a candle and walk it through the bedrooms telling "everyone" that it's time for them to leave so the kids can go to bed.  She calls them "spirits" and "trolls".  It helps.

Best of luck.

[CinCanada]

Exactly the same scenario at our place.  DD is 2.5 & for the last 6mos or so has described on almost a nightly basis a man in our room.  She can tell us about him, point directly to where he is & sometimes tells us what he's saying.  Sometimes there's a boy & girl too though she talks about them less often.  Totally creeps me out but I felt badly telling her there were no ghosts so we went with the telling all of the ghosts that "DD didn't want to play right now, please leave.  It's time for her to go to sleep, & not playtime anymore etc. etc." which seems to satisfy everyone.  None of the previous attempts of telling her not to be afraid, that her dad & I were there, that the dog was there to protect her etc helped but asking them to leave did.  I'll admit that while on vacation last month we tried telling her that there were no ghosts in Florida since they don't like palm trees but that one didn't fly.  I really am curious what she's seeing.

[dawncayden]

I was raised to believe in ghosts and frankly, I used to think I saw them, and I'd tell my mom and she loved hearing about it all. I remember making up a lot of stories just to tell her. It really creeped me out and kept me awake at night.

Since becoming an adult, I don't believe in ghosts and have raised my son differently. He know's what is real and what is not. He still has a huge imagination full of make believe, but he knows that vampires, ghosts, dragons, santa clause, and gnomes aren't actually real. We still tell stories about them and enjoy them for the wonderful things that they are, but he know that a dragon will never actually been seen in real life.

I find that he feels so safe in life. Much safer then I ever did. There was so much 'unknown' to me, and I found that so scary as a child.

just my 2 cents

[Baby_Cakes]

Originally Posted by dawncayden 

I was raised to believe in ghosts and frankly, I used to think I saw them, and I'd tell my mom and she loved hearing about it all. I remember making up a lot of stories just to tell her. It really creeped me out and kept me awake at night.

Since becoming an adult, I don't believe in ghosts and have raised my son differently. He know's what is real and what is not. He still has a huge imagination full of make believe, but he knows that vampires, ghosts, dragons, santa clause, and gnomes aren't actually real. We still tell stories about them and enjoy them for the wonderful things that they are, but he know that a dragon will never actually been seen in real life.

I find that he feels so safe in life. Much safer then I ever did. There was so much 'unknown' to me, and I found that so scary as a child.

just my 2 cents

Thanks for all the replies everyone!  It helps to know that this is a normal thing kids do.  

Dawn I can see this side too, and I get what you're saying.  I don't want her imagination running too crazy and getting the best of her, especially since she does say she's freaked out.  She's not talking about pretty faeries and glitter here, she's honestly scared by these ghosts.  I'll have to take it one episode at a time, I think.

We do Santa, but not to the extent some families do. I'm not going to go out of my way to convince her he's real when she starts to question.  I think it's cruel to continue a lie when it's obvious to the child that it isn't true.  But that's another thread!!