Friday, February 6, 2009

Fear Not, I Am With You....

Will is terrified of the vacuum. I have tried everything I can think of to calm his fears, but nothing has really worked. So I have 2 choices, I either hold him while cleaning, which is getting more difficult, or I only clean when Jason is home and he can take Will outside. Any thoughts on how to fix it? Is it better to keep exposing him to it? Or, is it better to stop forcing it on him?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it just when it is in the same room he is in? Can you put him in his crib or vacuum during naps? How about one of those toy vacuums like mommy's, and only bring it out with the real one so it is special?

Kelly said...

It is when he is in the same apartment, it doesn't seem to matter, even if he is asleep, he will wake up. I have left it out in the living room so he can get used to seeing it. I may get him a fake one if I see one at a thrift store. Thanks!

Simmons Family said...

Connor and Laura were scared of the vacuum too. The would run screaming any time I turned it on. They still do but they are not really scared any more. It's more of a game now.

Little Blessings said...

Andrew was terrified of the vacuum as well. I just kept doing it. I would put him on the couch with some toys and smile and talk to him while he did it. He screamed the whole entire time. I think he was about 18 months old before he finally got over the screaming part. Then he would just run and vault up to the couch anytime he saw it come out (a rare occurrence :)at my house for sure). That and I would vacuum as quickly as possible. He will out grow it. I think it hurt Andrew's ears. It wasn't so much the machine itself but rather the amount of sound it made. He is still pretty sensitive to loud places. Good Luck though!