Toddler Fears and other fun milestones!

Right around the time that Leah turned 2 we started to notice odd behaviours - specifically she started to develop some real and quite irrational fears of things.  It started with the first snowfall of the season.  Leah had been too young the previous winter to even remember the snow so we were all excited for her to experience it for the "first time." We bundled her up and headed outside expecting her to delight in the winter wonderland that had appeared overnight.  Instead she screamed and cried and uttered the mantra that we would hear repeatedly for the days and months to come - "I don't like snow!"

The truth is - I don't like snow either so I really didn't think it was a big deal until I started to notice the sheer panic she would feel at the thought of going outside.  She didn't just dislike the snow - she was terrified of it. Along with her fear of snow she started to be afraid to go to bed.  Admittedly this was the fear that really got our attention.  Leah is one of those kids who has always been a great sleeper.  From a very young age she would go to bed around 6:30pm and we wouldn't hear a peep from her for 12 hours.  When our blissful sleeps started being interrupted we knew we had a problem and so I took to the internet and was amazed to find that there are dozens of articles that talk about "toddler fears" as a real and valid milestone. 

According to Dr. Heather from babyshrink.com "Toddlers often develop these quirky preferences and fears, seemingly all of a sudden. Partly it has to do with their growing awareness that scary things CAN happen."  

We found that the best way to deal with Leah's fears was to first acknowledge them and then reassure her that she was safe.  We worked through Leah's fear of going to sleep by getting her a night light and leaving her bedroom door open a crack.  Those little changes along with a pile of reassurance have helped her work through her fears and now we're back to a normal sleep pattern.  

As for the snow - the kid lives in Canada so we had to tackle this a little more "head-on" by finding things that she would enjoy doing in the snow like shovelling.  So I got out her beach toys and let her have some fun in the white stuff and little by little she has adjusted to the snow.  Does she love the snow - no - but she can now go outside without having a complete meltdown.  The truth is she may never love the snow - there's lots of us who feel that way too!

"I don't like snow!"