Wow! I never knew that a fly could create a reaction so terrifying and intense in someone as the buzzy little nuisances have in my daughter, Phoenix. Imagine the biological effects one might experience when seeing a giant pit-bull running at full speed, jaws open, teeth glaring, eyes centered on your throat... your heart is racing, your head is hot and sweaty, and all you want to do is run straight up a tree and cling on for dear life, right? That is exactly how Phoenix reacts when she so much as senses or hears a fly in the room. A FLY! I kid you not! Her heart beats so hard and so fast that I swear she is going to go into full cardiac arrest! What do I do? There is no convincing her that flies are not scary, that flies wouldn't hurt... a fly! She grabs around your neck and pulls herself so close that I swear she would crawl right up inside of me if it were possible. I'm not exactly the most patient parent, I must admit, so the first couple of times I tried to roll my eyes and tell her that flies are good and flies are our friends... she didn't buy it. Then, I tried the cuddle and baby her approach, which seemed to make her trust me a little more, but no dice on getting over the fear. How do you help a kid overcome the fear of something so common and so gentle as the household fly? I mean, they're everywhere and I don't see an extinction of the Arthropods coming anytime soon.
The solution we've come up with for the time being?
A fly swatter. Pretty ingenious, if you ask me. My mother-in-law came up with it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that it has done the trick... as we speak, I think I hear little footsteps barrelling up the stairs and short, panicky breaths flying (excuse the pun) in my direction... Suddenly, flies or not so fly in my book!
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OMG! This is so funny and coincedental! I'm going through the same exact thing with Ty. Anything that buzzes or flies around is a "BEEEEEE!!!!" My husband gets so upset with him, because as a man (I think) he just doesn't understand the fear of a "fly". We {mom's} knowingly know that {of course} a fly isn't going to hurt them, but we know what it feels like to be afraid of something, so we can relate to our kids better {in that sense}.
I've tried the "flies aren't scary, they aren't going to hurt you, they're harmless" trick and that didn't work. I've even gone outside and let them land on me {eww....gross} and I try to show him that I'm okay, so flies must be okay too. I've tried the baby effect, but I think that made it worse. So, I've resorted to {like you} giving him a fly swatter. It seems to help a little, but he still runs away from the little suckers screaming like a little girl. Which makes the hubby more mad! "Aren't boys suppose to like bugs, spiders, and snakes? What's wrong with him?" He asks me. {SIGH} Men! They'll never understand. Pfft!
So, for now, I'm sticking with the fly swatter trick.....but watch out! You may get hit in the process. Hahaha! Plus, I look at this whole thing as a phase. I don't think he'll be scared of "flies" for the rest of his life. At least I hope not. Good luck! Let me know if you think of any clever ideas and I'll return the favor if I get any crazy ideas!
That is hilarious! How adorable is that?!? Kaden has a fear of spiders. Which he obviously got from his momma. :) Yeah, our pics were done in Poky. My sister-in-law took them. She's amazing!
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