Kids and Fears...

We aren't parents who nurture fears in our children by any means, but yet, the fears that Regan has are very real. Her most current fears are fireworks and people dressed up as anything.

When I picked her up from VBS last night and asked her about her night, the first thing she told me about was the people dressed up as farm animals. Her first reaction was that she did not want to return tonight. I asked her if the rest of the night was fun, and she said yes. You know, kids, singing, crafts, stories, snacks, pretty much all of her favorite things. After some exchange of dialogue, she decided it wasn't worth missing all the fun, just because of the animals.

Yet, at midnight, I awoke to her crying. She still "couldn't stop thinking about the farm animals". She told me the same thing in the morning when I asked what she was dreaming about. (I think this is the first time she has ever been able to say what her bad dreams were about) It is so sad as a parent to see your child have these kind of fears. You want so badly for them to trust you, that everything is OK. I guess they have to work that out for themselves though.

So tonight, on the way, I told Regan how proud I was of her for returning, despite her fears. We talked about how afraid Daniel must have been in the lions den and how God kept him safe. We talked about closing her eyes and listening to the story instead of watching the people dressed up as animals. We talked about pretending Sage, mommy, daddy and Regan were inside the animals (she thought this was quite funny).

I guess, in time, this will be one of the things we can laugh about. Just like the home video we watched today of her meltdown over needing band-aids on her buns. Band-aids were one of her great fears about 8 months ago. (Still not one of her favorite things, but I think she has gotten over the fear of them. ) She also battled some eczema on her back side, which she would scratch until it was bleeding. After everything else failed to get her to stop scratching them and start telling us they itched so it could be treated, we resorted to telling her we would put band-aids on them if she made them bleed. This resulted in about a four minute, America's Funniest Home Video worthy meltdown about 'PLEEEAASSE, don't want any band-aids on my buns!'

For now, I pray for her, as she faces her fear of the animals and that God will show her at this tender young age that she need not fear, for He is God.

(Edited to add: Regan had a great night! She had no problems with the animals, although definitely not her favorite part. She has no reservations about wanting to go back and asks repeatedly, how many more nights and what is for dinner tomorrow? Thanks God for the answered prayers and the supporting prayers from friends. How great that we can take even the simplest requests like this to our Heavenly Father and he cares enough to listen and answer!)