Childhood fears...
Puberty seems to be a fairly frequent topic in our family these days. This last week we were visiting family...
#2: When I go through puberty, I won't be myself anymore.
Me: Who will you be then?
#1: He'll still be himself, just an angsty version of himself.
Then last night #4 came downstairs to use the bathroom after bed time. He said he was afraid to go alone and wanted one of us to stand outside the door and wait for him. In the past it has been a fear of werewolves that kept him from going to the bathroom alone after dark. We fixed the problem by putting a new curtain on the window so he couldn't see the dark outside. I asked him what the problem was since the curtain was up and he said in a very sincere and frightened voice, "I'm scared...of PUBERTY."
I couldn't help it, I busted up laughing. He didn't find it amusing and went on to ask his Dad if puberty is real or not. D replied that it was.
We later found out that #2 had told #4 that puberty is a monster under his bed, so we had to explain to him that puberty is something that happens to your body when you get to a certain age.
"What does it do?" He asked us. We gave examples of zits, growing a beard (for boys) and etc. and I mentioned that it would probably make him like girls.
"I don't want to be a girl!" There was true fright in his voice. I told him he wouldn't turn into a girl, but he might want to marry one after puberty. His eyes got huge and he said "Uh oh!"
I am not sure we calmed his fears, we may have made them worse. Maybe the monster under the bed is easier to deal with than growing up to like girls and get married.
#2: When I go through puberty, I won't be myself anymore.
Me: Who will you be then?
#1: He'll still be himself, just an angsty version of himself.
Then last night #4 came downstairs to use the bathroom after bed time. He said he was afraid to go alone and wanted one of us to stand outside the door and wait for him. In the past it has been a fear of werewolves that kept him from going to the bathroom alone after dark. We fixed the problem by putting a new curtain on the window so he couldn't see the dark outside. I asked him what the problem was since the curtain was up and he said in a very sincere and frightened voice, "I'm scared...of PUBERTY."
I couldn't help it, I busted up laughing. He didn't find it amusing and went on to ask his Dad if puberty is real or not. D replied that it was.
We later found out that #2 had told #4 that puberty is a monster under his bed, so we had to explain to him that puberty is something that happens to your body when you get to a certain age.
"What does it do?" He asked us. We gave examples of zits, growing a beard (for boys) and etc. and I mentioned that it would probably make him like girls.
"I don't want to be a girl!" There was true fright in his voice. I told him he wouldn't turn into a girl, but he might want to marry one after puberty. His eyes got huge and he said "Uh oh!"
I am not sure we calmed his fears, we may have made them worse. Maybe the monster under the bed is easier to deal with than growing up to like girls and get married.
Comments
Poor kid. I hope he gets over his fear soon. At least they didn't tell him that when he GOT to puberty he turned into a werewolf. *L*