How to deal with son's fear

[Kuchi2]

My 5 year old son is a sensitive kid. He is highly emotional. High maintenance. And requires alot of attention. One thing he is, is a scaredy cat. He is careful with things. And is scared of alot of things (the dark, the unknown, risk taking, etc).

 

Well, my boyfriend's daughter (who is exactly a yr older than my son) has zero control at her mother's house. She has a 11 yro half brother who watches alot of scary things and tells her things (she's 6) and shows her things that is not very appropriate for her age group. He showed her about the evil clown issue we are having and told her stories and showed her youtube videos. Well, she comes back to us and scares the crap out of my son by telling him everything her half brother told her. Now my son doesn't want to be alone. Doesn't want to be any where that isn't with light. Can't go anywhere without me. Wants to stay near me, etc. THANKFULLY, it hasn't really affected his sleep much (I would die! lol. It took me 4 yrs for him to finally sleep without waking me up in the middle of the night).

 

WHAT can I do? He was very conservative and emotional to begin with, but then when she comes over my house, she tells him things she learned at her mother's house that isn't for small children. I can only handle so much "mama, come with me to the bathroom" for so much longer!

 

FYI- I did talk to both and told them that evil clowns aren't real. Boyfriend even took them upstairs (which they refused cuz they scared the living crap of each other). I spoke to my son alone about this house being safe and there is nothing to be scared of. But it's still affecting him.

[Gemma1]

Hope you don't take this the wrong way but, have you considered taking your son to a counselor? I don't think this is very normal and there's really no way for anyone here to advise you properly without knowing you and your parenting style or the home situation. No kid should be this afraid, it's got to be really stressful to have to experience life like that, and that's just not good for a developing brain.

[amaysngrace]

I second Gemmas advice and reasoning and agree it must be a horrible existence living in constant fear.

 

Poor little bub

[basil67]

I also suggest taking him to a child psychologist. I don't know if you've used one before, but they are the experts on how to rear a child who has emotional issues. They'll give you the tools to address his fears in the correct way. My friend's child has been doing this lately and is making great improvements.

 

Has your boyfriend asked his daughter to stop scaring your son? She's old enough that she should be able to understand the consequences of her actions.