All of the sudden my four year old is scared to leave my side. She thinks there are snakes or mice everywhere. I did thought there was a dead mouse under the sink a couple of days ago, but it wasn't and her fear of snakes stemmed from our neighbor talking about them weeks and weeks ago.
Today's scenario: DD (4), DS (3mo.) and I wake up, go to the living room. She asks me to go with her to get clothes, I do. She needs to potty, asks me to go with her, I tell her to just go on her own (She's been doing it alone for too long to remember!). She says she'll wait. If I go to the bathroom, she follows. When I go to change the baby, she follows. I set up an activity at the table for us to do and she insisted that her chair be right next to mine. She wanted a snack, so I told her she could have the rest of her pizza from lunch, she went and got it, but when she was still hungry, she wouldn't walk 3 steps to the fridge by herself. As I rocked the baby to sleep, she wanted in my lap and sat on the ottoman fussing until I put the baby down and held her. She's now hip to hip with me on the couch.
This started with her thinking she heard snake noises in her room, so she hasn't gone in there by herself in a while, but now she doesn't even want to go to the bathroom with me sitting where I can see her. She wants me in there. Some other moms I've talked to said their 4 and 5 year olds don't want to go in their rooms alone, so maybe it's a stage, but how do I handle it? I tried to explain that snakes like to be outside, not in the house, but this hasn't helped. So what next?
Today's scenario: DD (4), DS (3mo.) and I wake up, go to the living room. She asks me to go with her to get clothes, I do. She needs to potty, asks me to go with her, I tell her to just go on her own (She's been doing it alone for too long to remember!). She says she'll wait. If I go to the bathroom, she follows. When I go to change the baby, she follows. I set up an activity at the table for us to do and she insisted that her chair be right next to mine. She wanted a snack, so I told her she could have the rest of her pizza from lunch, she went and got it, but when she was still hungry, she wouldn't walk 3 steps to the fridge by herself. As I rocked the baby to sleep, she wanted in my lap and sat on the ottoman fussing until I put the baby down and held her. She's now hip to hip with me on the couch.
This started with her thinking she heard snake noises in her room, so she hasn't gone in there by herself in a while, but now she doesn't even want to go to the bathroom with me sitting where I can see her. She wants me in there. Some other moms I've talked to said their 4 and 5 year olds don't want to go in their rooms alone, so maybe it's a stage, but how do I handle it? I tried to explain that snakes like to be outside, not in the house, but this hasn't helped. So what next?
