when did your small child start to be afraid?

[jann1033]

after reading the what ride is your toddler afraid of thread, i am just wondering,( having never taken tiny kids as ours were almost school age our first trip) how young some babies/toddlers were when they started showing signs of fear of the attractions...gbaby is 15 months so will be amost 2 1/2 for our trip and as yet has only a small amount of "stanger anxiety" and no fear of anything else( much to her paranoid grandma's dismay) but wondering when others noticed the "change " from "kind of oblivious" to "scared and screaming". figuring it might be about 2-2 1/2 so just the wrong time for our trip

 

[ainmama2001]

We started taking my dd when she was only 9 months old. Obviously, all we did were parades, meet and greets and Small World with her. We took her again when she was 2 and a half. She is pretty much a fearless child (I too am paranoid about this!) but at that point had just started preschool and had her first separation from me to stay with strangers since she was born. At WDW, she wasn't afraid of ANY of the characters but she did get really spooked by Mickey's Philharmagic and wouldn't go into any other dark rides as a result. She's 3 and a half now and she did everything, including Goofy's barnstomer. She even LOVED Snow White's Scary Adventures, which I had read was too scary for children her age. I decided to try it, and thank goodness because it turned out to be one of her favorites. She rode it twice.

To make a long story short, the more familiar they get with their surroundings, the less afraid they get. I believe that there is something at WDW for children of ALL ages, but the only way to know for sure if they can tolerate it is to try it once.

Good luck!

 

[janette]

Really no way to guess, my older DD never had stranger anxiety and my younger one was pretty bad from about 6mths to 3yo. At 3yo it just stopped. You'll be able to adjust pretty quickly if you find they don't like something but just knowing that they might not be thrilled to see the characters or upset about rides that you don't deem scary is enough.

 

[PaulaSue]

My youngest got the afraid stage at her 2nd birthday. It is very werid to me since my other 2 didn't. Also considering that we have season passes to Hersheypark, the other 2 years we went she had a blast on things that she was scared to do this summer.

I am hoping she grows out of it SOON! T or T at the mall didn't go to bad but it was worse than last year. She wouldn't even reach for ANY of the candy they were handing out last night. Last year she was walking and reaching before her own sisters.

 

[GinaGrumpyDwarf]

Mikayla was FINE in December last year (she was 2.3) then we just went in September and omg it was crazy at what she was scared of...
We finally would get around things by telling her that she could stay in the stroller outside the ride if she wanted strapped in her stroller while we were in the ride (of course we would never do that!.lol) and we would come back to get her when it was over....well, she would never go for any of that!!! LOL
Being afraid of certain things are understandable, like she wouldnt take a pic with BEAST by herself, but with my DH it was OK, and she didnt care for SULLY from Monsters inc. but once again it was OK with dad.

 

[GinaGrumpyDwarf]

Like my DH says....

"ya gotta be smarter than the 3 year old" LOL

 

[madgomez]

My first son, at 2.5yo, was afraid of nothing at WDW, although he was a bit cautious in everyday life. Somehow, he seemed to understand that it was all for fun. He said the same thing at the end of every ride "More dat!" This included the usual problem rides like POC and HM. He was a little cautious of HM at 6yo though.
My second son at 2.5yo, seemed to tolerate all the rides OK, but I didn't get the feeling he really liked some of them. He really liked Figment!
But he could not tolerate anything LOUD! FOTLK was OK, but we couldn't do any other shows. Funny, because in everyday life he is absolutely fearless and very LOUD!

You never can tell!

 

[jann1033]

You never can tell!

yeah, basically that's what i'm afraid of and don't want to be one of those people who are complained about if she starts screaming on something i had no idea would be a problem
thanks

 

[SqueakyMouse]

In May, our dd was 2 1/2...and afraid of EVERYTHING at WDW. Even the TTA frightened her!! By the time we returned to WDW a couple of weeks ago (she's now nearly 3 yo), she was frightened of nothing, riding the Barnstormer several times in a row one evening and wanting to visit the HM many times during MNSSHP. It's amazing how quickly the little ones change.

 

[GEM]

We took our little guy the first time at 12 months, then again at 20 months, then again at 26 months. So far, he's never been afraid of anything. He's ridden everything without a height requirment, seen all the shows, seen all the fireworks and parades, met all the characters, etc. all without showing any sign of being nervous or afraid. We were kind of surprised, especially about the fireworks and characters, since a lot of very small children seem to be frightened by those things. He loved them, though! We're taking him back in December and he'll be 32 months old. I hope he still loves everything! We took him to "Boo at the Zoo" last night and he wasn't afraid of anything - people in costumes, the haunted train ride with people jumping out at you in the dark, the spook house, the big slide he rode with Daddy. So, that seems to be a good sign!

 

[TinkerbellMama]

We took our little guy the first time at 12 months, then again at 20 months, then again at 26 months. So far, he's never been afraid of anything. He's ridden everything without a height requirment, seen all the shows, seen all the fireworks and parades, met all the characters, etc. all without showing any sign of being nervous or afraid. We were kind of surprised, especially about the fireworks and characters, since a lot of very small children seem to be frightened by those things. He loved them, though! We're taking him back in December and he'll be 32 months old. I hope he still loves everything! We took him to "Boo at the Zoo" last night and he wasn't afraid of anything - people in costumes, the haunted train ride with people jumping out at you in the dark, the spook house, the big slide he rode with Daddy. So, that seems to be a good sign!

This will probably be our son, too. He's nearly 1 now and has never been afraid of ANYTHING!!! Fireworks right overhead, blasting music (including an extremely loud philharmonic concert), gunfire (at a funeral; they were standing VERY close to us and he laughed rather than flinched ), etc...NOTHING seems to frighten him. He's just super outgoing and doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned that anything could ever hurt him. Hope it sticks!!

 

[dparksfan]

At age 2 was when my ds refused Pirates, which he had ridden a lot prior to that...but then ironically lulled himself to sleep at naptime that day singing "yo ho, yo ho a pirates life for me" in his crib. A memory that makes me laugh everytime I think about it.

 

[madgomez]

NOTHING seems to frighten him. He's just super outgoing and doesn't seem to be the least bit concerned that anything could ever hurt him. Hope it sticks!!

You'll hope it sticks till he gets a few years older and starts giving you heart attacks everytime you turn around! There comes a point at which you kind of wish they start to develop a little fear about some things!