How to help 5 year old not to be scared of characters.

[HFC1969]

Our 5 year old son is scared of the characters...

He loves to watch them from a safe distance but will not go up to them..

We have 9 months to break this fear....

 

[crisi]

My son, for some odd reason, asked for an autograph book. Prior to that he wasn't "terrified" he just didn't really want to go near them. With a purpose, he was fine.

Can't promise it will work.

 

[jrabbit]

THis is NOT uncommon with kids. When they see the characters on TV they are a "safe size" even with these new huge TV's they're comming out with. When they see the "rubber heads" live and in person they are HUGE compared to there "normal" experience. Lots of these children don't have problems with the "face" characters (the princesses, Alalddin). It's just something they have to grow out of. I don't think that you have to "break them" of this fear.

 

[rjh8115]

With my 5 year old, we started him off by going up to meet the characters with him. We also used an autograph book. During one of our early meets, Peter Pan bent down to talk with him and all of a sudden it clicked. The fear evaporated and he wanted to meet everyone.

Rick

 

[LissafromSJ]

Our youngest had the same problem with Santa Claus - and since we never pushed the issue, it resolved itself the minute he provided candy to her bother and sister currently sitting on his lap. If I were you, I wouldn't care at all if my kid didn't want to approach the characters. Getting an autograph really isn't that important. Melissa

 

[Rence]

My niece was petrified of anyone in a costume from the time she was an infant. Clowns, Santa, Easter Bunny, the Characters at Six Flags. It was pretty intense, she wasn't just skittish, she was totally and completly terrified.

She loves amusement parks as long as the characters aren't round, but when a character is near she would cling to her uncle and be shaking like a leaf.

We had a full family trip planned to WDW followed by the Cruise when she was 8. She had still not gotten over her fear. We knew it was going to be a problem, but we talked to her and assured her that the whole family would 'protect' her. She was the oldest of five girls who would be on the trip (2 8 year olds, 2 5 year olds and 1 3 year old).

My other sister booked a Character Breakfast for our first morning at WDW (probably not a bright idea, but she doesn't always think things through), so we are lined up outside Animal Kingdom waiting to go in when she realized that there would be characters in the park and she totally freaked, major tantrum. Her mother just grabbed her and told her that she needed to trust us, had we ever let anything bad happen to her? That she did not have to go near the characters but she did have to eat breakfast with the family. She entered the park sobbing.

We got to the breakfast and talked to the CMs and explained the situation. Our group was large enough that we were at two tables. So we had one table as the character table and the other table as the no characters table. The CMs knew to tip off the characters to not come to the one table. My niece knew that the one table would be 'safe'.

The characters came out and she hid under the table. She peered out and watched her sister and cousins going up to all the characters with the other kids. She just watched. Eventually she climbed up on my lap but I could tell she was still scared. At one point she turned to me and said that she might go stand near Goofy so that grandma could take her picture. This surprised me, but she changed her mind and didn't do it, but I could see the wheels spinning. She was starting to realize that maybe the characters weren't so bad.

We got done with breakfast and we were walking through the park when the girls saw Pooh. The four nieces went running for Pooh and the scared one went running for her mother. She looked over and saw how much fun everyone else was having and the suddenly she let go of her mother, ran over and threw her arms around Pooh, almost tackling him. We were all shocked. She came back and was so proud of what she had done and was so exited. We promptly bought all the girls autograph books and for the week at WDW and the week on the cruise, my niece was more interested in the characters than in anything else. She filled two autograph books.

She just needed to work through her fear on her own. We never pushed, we promised to protect her and kept assuring her that she didn't have to be around the characters if she didn't want to be. She saw how much fun everyone else was having and how safe it seemed to be and decided on her own that things were going to be OK.

 

[ICEMANPAD]

My DS (5) was also extremely terrified of the characters. We live in Florida and he has been to WDW many times. He always avoided the characters. We were nervous about our Magic Cruise in November 2004. He started the cruise with his fear. However, at the OC there was a pj party with Goofy. He thought that Goofy was hysterical--snooring and carrying on. After that party, he no longer was afraid.

In fact, the morning of our Character Breakfast on the Magic, he asked for an autograph book. He posed w/ each character that came to our table and asked for their autograph!!

 

[jlcbshaw]

Although you didn't say how many people would be in your group, I agree with Rence. I would explain to your DS that the characters aren't or wouldn't hurt anyone and then allow him to see other people that he knows interact with the characters (like yourself) and it may "click" that the characters are safe. The one thing that I wouldn't do, and I am sure that you are aware of this, is force his hand when it comes to his fears. I still hate tomatoes! I remember when I was younger I stated that I didn't like tomatoes and was forced time and time again to eat them. YUCK!

 

[wdwoldtimer]

We went through this with DD....it made character meals one stressful experience, let me tell you. What helped her get over it was a Chip character in LTT. "He" got down to her level, held his hand out and did not move, except for wiggling his fingers. I had to hold DD, with her hands in mine and SLOWLY approach Chip until he could put his hand on top of ours. Chip gently patted her hand until she was brave enough to turn it over and grab one of his fingers. Once she felt the real hand inside the glove, that helped a lot. The CM was very patient and gentle.

It'll help if your DS if you pick a smaller, less intimidating and calm character. Forget Tigger and Goofy. Tell the cast member in the big-head that your DS is afraid and he'll/she'll do something similar I bet. Also, forget attempting this out in the parks...they just can't dedicate the time. Do it at a character meal.

 

[bairdbeth]

Prior to our first trip to WDW I had my daughter make some artwork for the characters. She then presented her art to them when she met them. It helped break the ice. We also, used an autograph book.

 

[CaribGirl]

Mine were also extrememly afraid. My first DD just grew out of it, and one time going to WDW just realized that she was no longer afraid. The second one though, would scream bloody murder if they were just in the vicinity. So much so that we explained to her that there is an actual person in there, and showed her the zipper of the costume and compared it to halloween. Eventually she came to understand that it is okay, and now there is no more problems.

 

[lbgraves]

I was also worried that my DS would have a horrible time with the characters. He was terrified of Santa the year before. He wouldn't even go near the line to see him. We went to MK one day before our cruise. I was all prepared to NOT get any pictures with the characters with the kids. I really think it is wrong to force the kids to do anything. Everyone else is right, they will accept them on their own terms. Well, we went to the Cinderella show in front of the castle and were not going to wait for autographs but when we went to the side to get the strollers we looked up & Mickey was standing right in front of us. We ended up being the first ones in line somehow & the kids walked right up to him & gave him a big hug. WHEW! What a relief! LOL! DD didn't care for Captain Hook on our first cruise and he could tell so while Wendy got her to pose for a picture with her he walked away. Just before the picture was taken he quietly posed behind Wendy out of DD's site.

 

[mickeyboat]

DD4 was very afraid as well before our cruise and I thought we would have a miserable experience in that area. The first character we saw was Pinnochio. She saw other children having their picture taken with him, and decided she wanted hers too. It helped that Pinnochio got down to her level, I think he even laid down on the floor.

After that there was no stopping her. We have many wonderful picture of her and her sister with all the characters (Shutters was the budget blower on our crusie). She begged to stand in line - when we were with her.

When Daisy came to the Club for an activity, she was a bit afraid and did not smile for her picture. I think having us there was very reassuring for her.

I echo a previous poster's comments regarding the face characters. Starting your child off with a princess may make the whole thing a lot less intimidating.

Have a great time.

Denae