Need suggestions to help my son overcome his fear

Start by letting him be in control...fears that seem small to one person can be horrifying to another. Have him try this: While in the bathtub or shower, let him pour a small (1/4 cup) amount of water on his head. Have him work it in, and when he feels comfortable, let him try a 1/2 cup...this way he can work up to full immersion. Let him proceed at his own pace. Fear of drowning is a powerful phobia. I know...I nearly drowned when a giant wave dumped me off my innertube when I was about 7 years old, and out in the surf in San Diego. Drowning, Falling, and large crowds, are very common fears. If this oesn't work, a good licensed hypnotherapist can work with him so that he overcomes this and feels "safe" washing his hair.

My son is the exact same way well at least up until two years ago.. Here is what I did... When I went to wal-mart and to the shampoo ile I took him with and let him pick out his own shampoo.. Not the adult stuff but the kids no more tears...I had problems maybe 4 or 5 times afterwards than he started to like the smell of his shampoo and started washing his hair, Not to mention he too hates water on his face... Soon enough he liked it... hope this helps...

My older son who is 7 now...never had a problem....but I know what you mean because my 16 month old had a problem earlier. At first, I just ignored the fact that he was scared and pour a little water on his head. It took me a couple of days....but he didn't get over the fear...but the crying is a little better now. Since your son is older I doubt if this is going to work. But you can probably try doing it till he gets used to it. Maybe he still catches his breath when you pour water on his head...and inhales some of it. Maybe that's why he is scared. Or you can teach him how to wash his hair with head tilted back so that he doesn't get the water on his face.

Both of my children still hate getting water in my face. My son more-so than my daughter, he's got a genuine fear of it, she just doesn't like it. They are 8 (girl) and 10 (boy) and both take showers on their own now. I let them keep a towel within reach so that if any water drips into their face they can grab for it and wipe it out immediately. I keep one by the side of the pool so they can do the same in that instance. Neither of them know how to swim yet, though I've tried to teach them many times. I was on swim teams since before I was my son's age and tell them that once you learn to hold your breath and blow bubbles out through your nose it's not bad ,but they still both don't want the water in their face. I don't push the issue, I think they'll do it on their own when they're ready.

Now I'm not an expert on this so I researched for you and found two sites that help deal with water phobia. Let me know if any of these two sites have helped you. http://www.changethatsrightnow.com/hydrophobia.asp?SDID=826:1605 http://www.metrokids.com/july05/fearofwater0705.html Hope this helps :)

oh, my nephew, who's 4 years old right now used to be afraid of washing his hair but now he had overcome it...I do not what caused it, and what made it disappear. It just got out of his system naturally. Maybe your son though needs help from a therapist or something like that, since he had bad experience in water in the past.

Hey lily. The local YMCA offers a swimming class to those who have a severe fear of water. Its guaranteed and there are professionals that help you go at your own pace. I've been afraid of water for years and have been told to go there, they let you go at your own pace and overcome that fear. I highly recommend it.. I dont know if you can physically help him get over that fear.. I know how he feels and no one has been able to help me yet.

wow - that's terrible for him. My daughter was afraid of washing her hair more tho if I remember she didn't want the water in her face. I used a folded up wash cloth and let her hold it to her face as hard as she like to keep the water away! she did too! And the hold her head back far as possible and use a cup for applying the water. She eventually grew out of it tho. I just hope your son does to. I remember too, same dauaghter, hated to take a shower. Refused to! baths all the time, never a shower. Then when she went to camp for the 6th grade graduation, she came home and said she'd take showers now. I asked her what chagned her mind nad she said that is all they had at camp and it was either shower or smell!

That is a pretty traumatic experience. Maybe you could show him that nothing really happens to him except clean hair. Maybe a video of a sibling or cousin getting hair washed, and not freaking out. How does he do with water balloons and sprinklers in summer? Try those. Or maybe try a shower, a slow trickle if you can control the stream.

There are ways to do it, but it sounds like he has developed a phobia of water. Addressing that would require a lot of patience -- more than you might expect. One technique for dealing with phobias is gradual desensitization. If a person is scared of snakes, you might present them with ropes (describing them as snakes), then toy snakes, then worms, then harmless snakes in an effort to slowly retrain their fear. Moving up one stage whenever they are comfortable with the previous one. Another idea would be to try showers instead of baths. If might be that his fear of getting his face wet is tied to there being a depth of water around. If he reacts differently to a spray of a shower on the back of his head, that might help you out.

Same thing happened to my daughter and so I started giving her a washcloth for her face so she could cover it,but the I started to teach how to lay back in the tub and get her hair wet by herself she is doing really good with that,or you could be creative like my mom,my mom bought my daughter a pair of swimming goggles to wear in the shower,lol,I thought that is crazy,but hey it worked and helped us move past her problem.

I'm curious to see the suggestions too lilybug. My son has always hated getting his hair washed. He absolutely hates getting water in his eyes. I've always just had him tilt his head way back, close his eyes tight, and I use my hand to block water from his face. But the real reason I'm curious is because my 6 year old son fell into the pool the first time we took him 2 years ago, and although I was right there to grab him and get him up, he's been terrified since. When we go the pool he won't move from the steps. But I have made some progress with him. Each time we went I'd hold him and move around in the pool with him clinging to me for dear life. He likes it as long as his head doesn't go underwater. The first year he still wouldn't budge from the steps. Last year he started getting a little braver. He'd hang on to the wall and go out a few feet - always holding on to the wall - and then back to the steps. Before winter I was able to put a life jacket on him and get him to let go of the wall for a few seconds at a time. And now when I hold him I can usually get him to stretch his legs out and kick a little bit. So patience seems to be the key as it has slowly been winning over his fear. I know if I push him too hard, he'll just get terrified all over again, so I make sure to take it slow. (Note: 2 years ago was the first time any of my kids had been swimming in a pool. I'm quite proud of how quickly the girls learned to swim. Maybe they had a really good teacher?

It must be awful to be terrified of the water and getting your face wet. I know my MIL was almost drowned in a pool when she was younger and has never got over the fear. She still won't get into a pool. She will paddle in the sea but won't go any further than up to her knees. Swimming is such a wonderful experience it is sad to see someone missing out. When I was at nursery school we were literally thrown into the pool and told to swim. Can you imagine that happening today!?!?!?!? As you can imagine quite a few of the kids found that experience traumatic. Mum was great with me she just took me into the bath and rubbed soap down the back of the bath which I slid down - did this until I was about 6 or 7. Water went everywhere but it got me OK with splashes and water in the face etc. Also she let me take control of putting water on my head. I see that other people have mentioned this too. Let your son take control of the experience and I believe that after a while he will begin to enjoy the whole experience. Good luck

I did not have experience on this things because my son is only 6 months old,but i am very glad to see so many valuable experience for kids afraid of water,it will be useful for me!

try washing his hair hair-dresser style. it should work...