The Monsters Are Real! Mothers’ True Stories of Their Children’s Fears

In today’s blog, we will talk about monsters that have nested everywhere. They are under the bed, in the closet, and sometimes even in the toilet! The attic and basement are also popular with them. Sometimes you can hear them walking through the small cracks in the walls. Sometimes their steps are fast, other times they are calm and slow, you never know where they come from and where they are going. Sometimes they are joined by skeletons and zombies who are green and grinning. They like the dark, and light is their fiercest enemy. If they see light, they hide, and those who don’t, melt away. With their glowing eyes, they constantly watch the light switch and maybe even guess our thoughts when we want to turn on the light. So they are very fast. And you, dear adult, if you don’t believe in them, then you are terribly wrong, because your child believes in them and if you want to prove to him that there are no monsters, then all that happens is that you leave the child alone with his fears. It’s like something fell from a high place and you wouldn’t go over to help and comfort him. Monsters exist and you have to accept that, and you have to be an active part of your child’s fight against monsters!

What forms can these monsters take in children’s imaginations? (Childhood monster list)

Childhood fears can take many forms. For fun and curiosity, we have now compiled some creatures from reader letters, acquaintances and the net 😊

Bogeymen, witches, vampires, ghosts, spiders, scary animals, clowns, werewolves, zombies, giant spiders, trolls, sea monsters, giant snakes, giants, dragons, skeletons, ghosts, toilet monsters, scary uncles, scary aunts, wolves, soldiers, animals with glowing eyes, dinosaurs, birds.

If you don’t find your home monsters in the list, please write to us and let us know so we can expand our list 😊

What age do kids start believing in monsters?

When children reach the age of 2-3, they are already beginning to become aware, but they still cannot fully separate fiction from reality. This is why it’s very important to pay attention to what stories we read to them and what shows we allow them to watch on TV or tablets at this age, because the negative creatures they see there can easily come back into their little imaginations. This is when the symptoms come in, such as waking up trembling from their sleep, or just talking loudly and fighting in their sleep or not letting the lights be turned off at night. This is the case with our little child too. She constantly has to sleep in a flood of light, which I find hard to bear 😊

Of course, this doesn’t mean that if these symptoms occur, then it is clearly and exclusively our responsibility. As I wrote in the previous paragraph, even a harmless clown can become a monster at night. It is not possible to completely eliminate monsters from their lives, and we don’t have to! The next paragraph will discuss why we don’t have to.

Why do children create monsters? Can it be Positive?

Just like adults’ lives are filled with fears, stress, and challenges, so too are the lives of children. Of course, these are different in nature and may seem less significant to adults, but to the child they are very real. The difference lies in the way they are processed. Children may imagine imaginary creatures that embody their fears or anxieties. These could be monsters, ghosts, and many other creatures or objects. These creatures are easier to fight than, for example, a parental divorce, over which they have no control. This is where our job comes in to help them with this processing work. If we can successfully deal with the “monsters”, then we can also more easily solve the problem at hand.

Media

In the previous paragraph, I mentioned the role of the media. The scary creatures that appear in various shows or books can come back at night or at any time of day. However, in these stories and movies, monsters are usually the evil ones, causing various conflicts and problems. So it can even help them understand cause-and-effect conflicts and make it easier to choose between good and bad. In these stories, the villain is usually defeated, which can also develop problem-solving skills.

Of course, I’m not saying to turn on scary stories right away , but it’s undeniable that they can solve many questions and answers.

Fear of the Unknown

Children are often afraid of the unknown, which is a natural part of their growth. Monsters are often representatives of the unknown, inexplicable things in the eyes of the child. Darkness, noises, and being left alone can cause natural anxieties that are easier to deal with in the form of monsters.

Preschool or School Challenges

When a child enters a new social environment, such as preschool or school, the change can also bring anxiety and uncertainty. School pressure, bullying, or even friendship conflicts are also difficulties that can appear as monsters in children’s imaginations. These imaginary creatures symbolically embody the challenges and fears that they have to face every day in this new and unfamiliar environment. The image of monsters can help children to process their inner conflicts and worries in a tangible form, thus finding their place and sense of security in the new environment more easily.

Family Tensions

If the general atmosphere in the family is tense, there are frequent quarrels, divorce, the adoption of a stepfather after divorce, or even the arrival of a new sibling, these can all be sources of conflict. These unfortunate or unfortunate, but conflicting events can often be associated with the appearance of imaginary monsters in the children’s fantasy world. These monsters can help children process the stressful situations they experience at home.

While at first it may seem that fear of monsters can only mean bad things, it is actually a great opportunity for children to develop their emotional intelligence, creativity, social skills, and learn how to cope with fears and stress in different stages of their little lives. ❤️ It is also good to know that the fear of monsters is often just a temporary phase in childhood. As kids grow up and understand more about the world, their fear of monsters usually subsides or disappears completely.

Reader’s Letters – True Stories from Mothers About Their Children’s Fears and Solutions

We love reader’s letters because they show us the reality and complement scientific articles on the topic in question. We often ask our readers to share their own experiences with us. It will be no different in this topic. And of course, we would like to thank everyone who wrote to us 😊

Some people did not want their names to be published, but they were happy to express their opinions. In such cases, there will be no name. We apologize in advance!

In some cases, we have corrected errors and rewritten words for the sake of readability, but we have done so with the knowledge and consent of the sender of the letter. Of course, these did not alter the content of the letter in any way 😊

Monster Spray – This solution was suggested by so many people that we will not highlight any one letter. It seems to be a very effective tool 😊 In the following, we will present letters where the monster spray was not effective, or where the mothers chose a different tool directly.

“Carmen García – Madrid | One of my friends suggested that we thoroughly question our daughter about what her monster looks like that she often sees and is afraid of. Then we should name it and come up with stories in which this monster is a cute and kind character and helps others. We eventually named it Zozo with Sofía’s (my daughter’s) consent and the stories were really effective. Although she didn’t say it, I think she ended up loving Zozo 😊 The whole process was very cute. I recommend this method to everyone! “

“Sophie Bernard, Dijon | Hello! My daughter Élodie came one evening with the request not to turn off the light, which we had always turned off before. I was very surprised, but of course I left the light on. This went on for a few nights, then one day on the way home we talked about this phenomenon. She said she was afraid of the monster. I have no idea where she got it from. We are especially careful that she does not encounter monsters. I came up with the idea of making a magic bracelet that will scare away the monster. We made one out of fine cotton fabrics, it even looked good and she accepted it 😊. I was surprised again, because that night we could turn off the light again. I thought it would work, but I didn’t hope it would be so soon. 😊”

“Hello! Please do not publish my name! We also had monsters, and we have twins and they started to be afraid at the same time… You can imagine 😊 … So what worked for us was that I knitted little smiling monsters out of colored yarn and we agreed that they would scare away the real monsters. I made about 4-5 little monsters and put them in the window, under the bed, in the closet. It worked 😊”

“Hello, our little boy was afraid of green-eyed soldiers, what worked for us was that we bought a puppy, which we were planning anyway, just a little later, but we brought the purchase forward. We agreed that if the soldier comes, Bella will bark. It didn’t work right away, but we always talked about it when he started saying his soldier stuff, and then one day he just stopped.”

“Amina – Meknés, Morocco | Nothing really worked for me, I always had to sleep with my little boy, then he would only calm down. They recommended books about cute monsters who help and are not scary, but it had the opposite effect. He was afraid of them, so everyone decides for themselves whether to use such books. It can certainly work, but it didn’t help us.”

“Katarzyna – Toruń, Poland | We were in an easy situation and got over it very quickly. When Jakub was born, we already had our cat, a big black and white tomcat. When Jakub started telling me about his night fears, I always told him that Misia would protect him, because she had protected him so far. We were over it in a few weeks 😊”

Claire Dubois, Reims | There are these skeleton stories on YouTube that are cute and they sing and dance, and that’s why I let her watch them, but I shouldn’t have 😊 The skeletons came at night. I know it’s my fault, but that’s just how it is. But I figured out that those skeletons that come at night only come if they find scattered toys on the floor 😊. From the next day on, there were no more toys scattered on the floor 😂😂

Femke, Leiden | We’ve tried everything too, but nothing worked. I kept telling her that monsters only exist in fairy tales, not in real life. I think that until she understands and comprehends it herself, there’s nothing we can do. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but that’s what I think. Patience and it will work.

Ashley, Boulder, Colorado | What are we afraid of wolves 😂 Ava’s dad is a hunter and watches a lot of shows like that on TV, that’s the only place he could have gotten his wolves from. No matter what I told him, the wolves were coming. At night we would walk around the house with the flashlight on my phone looking for wolves. How funny, we never found a wolf anywhere 😂 It lasted for six months, it was a tough time 😊

Charlotte, Reading | The monsters sometimes appear, or rather, not monsters, but some strange creatures that she always describes differently. Very interesting. I always tell her they’re only in fairy tales, but they just keep coming. I noticed after a few weeks or months that the creatures only come when she’s very tired or sick. If she has a few days off from kindergarten and can rest, she’s quiet for a few weeks.

We have ghosts 😊 At first I told her that ghosts don’t exist, but then she asked me, if there are no ghosts, then why do I see them? 😊 Well, I didn’t know what to say to that. Now I use the tactic of saying that ghosts don’t have bodies, so they can’t hurt you. She usually accepts my explanations.

Elin Svensson, Linköping | We were at a fire truck exhibition with my son, where there were everything from very old trucks to completely new and modern ones. He enjoyed it very much. There was a tent next to one of the trucks that Lukas wanted to look into, and then the firefighters talking there told him to be careful, there are big spiders there. He was very scared then, but I didn’t think it would stay with him so much. Already in the evening he started saying, Mom, there are spiders in my room too, right? Once I pretended I saw the spider too and I caught it and threw it out the window into the street and told him I saw it run away… He believed me luckily. So that was our spider story 😊

Anna Kowalska, Gdańsk | When the monster showed up in our house, I came up with an idea. I bought a small cotton bag with no markings and embroidered cute little monster shapes on it. My son and I decided that this would be our monster collection bag. Every night we would gather the monsters from under the bed, from the closet, and from the corners of the room, then we would throw them out the window and quickly close it. We laughed a lot while doing this, and the monsters slowly disappeared from our lives. Of course, we still had to leave the light on for safety, just in case. 😊

Liisa Virtanen, Espoo, Finland | Hi, although I don’t have any children yet and I’m only 25, I remember that I was afraid of dinosaurs. My brother, who is 5 years older than me, watched a lot of dinosaur cartoons. My parents always told me that dinosaurs don’t exist and are only in stories, but I couldn’t understand that at the age of 3-4. They just brushed it off with that. They never really shared my fears. And although I was very young and I don’t remember the whole story anymore, I remember my fears and anxiety very well. Of course, I’ve grown out of it and I’m fine now, but when I have kids, I’m sure I’ll be more supportive.

A friend of mine suggested that we watch the cartoons “Monsters University” and “Monsters, Inc.”. I’m not saying it solved the problem, but it did ease her anxiety a lot.

Carmen Ruiz, Zaragoza | Fortunately, my daughter Lucía didn’t have this problem as deeply, we always managed to joke about it 😊. Once I told her, ‘Look at me little girl, there’s no scarier monster in this house than me haha 😊’, of course my husband laughed and agreed. We laughed so hard, it was great. We managed to get through the period in similar ways. Now the ‘little girl’ is 15 years old, so everyone grows out of it, don’t worry.

Small flashlight was the solution! 😊 She would always say that she could hear something in the corner, so we would quickly shine a light there. Sometimes we had to shine it in other places too, but for some reason one corner of the room was the problem. It worked for a long time. I would say it helped us through the worst of it.