[tekcez]

What would you do?

Ds (just turned 2) is bored by super simple bedtime books, but seems to be getting upset with the content of more advanced books. For example his grandpa got him this 3D adaptation of the Jungle Book. He loves it and requests to read it often, but he gets upset with the concept of the tiger wanting to eat Mowgli. He loves Where the Wild Things Are, but is starting to describe the Wild Things as "scary." We have a collection of 4 tiny versions of Maurice Sendak books. One is Pierre, in which the boy says, "I don't care" to everything, so his parents leave him at home while they go to town, and he gets eaten up by a lion. At the end everything works out, but he seems to get stuck on the idea of the idea of "mommy and daddy leave Pierre and the lion eats him up." He keeps asking me to read it, but he gets truly weepy every time. My inclination is to read it to him and talk to him about it (let him know that the story is make believe, tell him that we would never leave him behind no matter what he did, etc.). I think he is in a developmental limbo, where he is working out what is real and what is pretend, understanding that there is danger in the world, and I want to help him work through it. I want to model calmness around scary topics so that he sees that we can work through his feelings together. I'm wondering though, if I ought to take some of those books out of rotation for a while...give him a break? Interested to hear some of your thoughts.

TIA

 

[tracyamber]

There i s another thread out there recently about a 2 year old being scared of certain things. In fact my 2 year old just started being scared of what I deem as random things. I have read that at this age their imagination is starting to flourish and things become scary around this time. I just try to be supportive of the behavior and and comforting.

 

[skycheattraffic]

I have a 27 month old girl and she would be a bit scared of that stuff too at her present developmental stage. I'd personally take out some of the scarier stories for a few weeks and reintroduce them a little later. There are lots of other, more advanced books that don't involve being eaten

. Our favourite right now is a collection of Curious George stories. There isn't anything scary or really dangerous but it does involve monkey shenanigans and DD loves them! George is depicted a lot like a toddler: inquisitive, innocent and always on the go. It may be worthwhile to find one at the library to try. My DD gets very concerned about people and animals being hurt or sad and these stories always have an undercurrent of "uh oh, George made a mistake but he is ok now". Hope that helps

 

[tekcez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skycheattraffic

There are lots of other, more advanced books that don't involve being eaten

.

Ha! yeah I was just thinking, why is our book collection so macabre? But then I realized that these are the books that he is choosing right now, not necessarily indicative of what we have. He is drawn to the stuff that makes him uncomfortable right now. Curious George is a great suggestion, though. I bet he would love those books.

Last night we read Don't Wake the Bear. He's used to be fine with it, but last night he got really nervous when (for those of you who may be familiar) the bear woke up and was angry. I mean, he recovered quickly and he loves the part where the bear thinks the party is for him. We'll see if sticking to milder stuff helps. I have a feeling that he will find something upsetting in even the tame stories, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tracyamber

There i s another thread out there recently about a 2 year old being scared of certain things. In fact my 2 year old just started being scared of what I deem as random things. I have read that at this age their imagination is starting to flourish and things become scary around this time. I just try to be supportive of the behavior and and comforting.

Yeah. I guess I'm wondering if he maybe is needing to confront these feelings and that is why he is seeking out "scary" stories. If so, I don't want to just take those choices out of the mix. I'm probably over thinking it. Support and comfort!

 

[newmamalizzy]

If he is needing to confront the scary stuff, maybe you can try having some gentle books reserved for bedtime while continuing to read the scary ones at other times? It could just be one if those no-win phases, though, where he'll find something scary in every book. Sometimes kids seem to be weird like that