Paranoia

I’m not sure what to do with G~. Wendy just blogged about her son’s irrational fears & G~ has been a ball of paranoia for months now. It’s getting a little out of hand. Here’s a partial list of things G~’s paranoid about.

• Thunderstorms, including dark clouds
• being alone in the basement
• being left alone at home
• Me leaving for any length of time

This afternoon I took the boys to a church picnic & G~ did well until he noticed the dark clouds gathering in the sky. His fingers went in his ears & he was DONE. No eating, no playing, he was begging to go home. We stayed for a little while longer because E~ wasn’t ready to go & the clouds were sliding off to the east; we weren’t in any danger of getting wet, but G~ would not be convinced.

The basement thing is getting old too. The boys have had their bedroom downstairs for over a year. Our basement isn’t one of those dank, dark basements. We have a nice family room, their bedroom is bright & cheerful, we spend a lot of time down there & yet G~ refuses to be down there by himself. I keep telling him, if he keeps it up, we’ll move him back upstairs & he can share a room with T~.

I never want to make him feel bad about his phobia, I’ll never do the “big boys aren’t scared of …” thing. I want him to know he can be scared & I’ll always do my best to protect him, but some days it’s all I can do to not yank his fingers out of his ears & tell him to buck up.

These fears all started a few months ago. I wish I knew what was the trigger. All I can say is that the kid is trying my patience & his brother never did this 😉

Any suggestions?

K~