Lisa says: Passing fears onto your kids
If you know Lisa, you'll know she has a fear she's trying NOT to pass onto her girls.
Peter snapped this pic on Mother's Day. Lisa was keeping an eye out for those darn sparrows
I'm scared of birds.
That's right. You heard me. I'm scared, no, terrified of birds.
Long story short, it's my mother's fault. She too is terrified of birds, and she trained me from a young age to run away, cry, lock myself indoors, scream bloody murder whenever a bird flew or waddled within 100 feet of me. Neither of my sisters share my ridiculous fear (my mom stopped at scaring the hell out of me) and I don't want either of my kids to inherit it.
So you can imagine the disaster it is for me when I'm hanging out with the kids outside and the (terrifying wee) birds that have created a meticulous spring nest above the door of the house two houses down are swooping around my front lawn.
(Giggling yet? I know ...it's stupid. But I can't help it. Fear is fear. What can I say?)
Anyway, I've been making quite the effort to hide my terror from the kids. (Which sometimes means I duck out of the blue, and Addy asks, "Mommy, what are you doing?" To which I'll respond, "Oh, I thought I saw something on the grass so I tried to reach down and get it but it blew away" or some such nonsense. Thankfully she hasn't heard me yelp yet.) I certainly don't want the girls spending their lives being afraid of seagulls at the beach, the pigeons downtown, the peacocks at the zoo and the (stupid) flock of sparrows two doors down.
So tell me: What are your fears? And what have you done to hide them from your little ones? (Or have you been open about your phobia?)
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Allison (not verified) says ....
I have a fear of grasshoppers and big dark (and freakily huge) moths. It started when I was little at my grandparents farm in Saskatchewan and the grasshoppers jumped around my face out in the fields and the moths dive bombed me when I was trying to fall asleep. Still disgusts me although I still love going to the farm - my Mom and I are going this long weeken. I have mentioned to the girls that I dislike these insects, but try not to get too crazy around them. Sometimes it works better than others and they seem to understand that different people have different fears. My big animal terror, though, is snakes and thank goodness we have none around Edmonton that I'm aware of. (I recently vetoed a camping trip around southern Alberta, though, due to rattlesnakes being common there.) Good luck with the birds!
abaigaelsmum says ....
My mother's fear she not so kindly passed onto me is a fear of fire. The house is going to catch fire was her favorite phrase I am sure. I just don't talk too much about it in front of my kids. Not like my mother did...I hope.
My girlfriend down the road is terrified of birds too. She has 5 kids and none of them seem fearful of birds although I'm not sure if she has told them of her fear of them?