My son is petrified of costumes...
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
June 11, 2010 2:46pm CST
I've always known my 4 year old isn't too fond of people who are dressed up like a character. We went to Disney On Ice last year and he cried the whole time.. and we were in the front row, so they got pretty close and he'd totally freak out. Especially at one point when Pumba from the Lion King came and stood right in front of us, which his big old snout in Aydan's face. Poor kid.
This Memorial day McGruff the crime dog was in the parade, and Aydan stood behind me until the big dog passed.. though he didn't freak out because thankfully the dog didn't get close enough to us.
Tomorrow there will be another big parade in town, it's called the Founder's Day parade. My husband's company is set to be in the parade, and one of the employees is going to dress up as the company's mascot.. a giant Lucky Dog.
So today they had the costume, and the employee dressed up and was hanging out by the side of the road as Lucky Dog. Hubby called me since I was in the area and told me to bring the boys by. Normally they love Lucky Dog.. they have a few stuffed toys of the dog, and they love seeing the picture on the side of daddy's work truck. So daddy thought the kids would enjoy seeing Lucky Dog in person. Of course we both forgot Aydan's fear of costumes. He totally flipped out the second I pulled into the parking lot.. and only got louder anytime he thought the dog was coming near him. The employee took the head off to show Aydan that he was a person underneath, but that didn't stop the screaming.. Aydan just kept saying he wanted to go home. Poor baby! I wonder how he'll react tomorrow at the parade.. if he'll be excited to see his daddy in a parade, or if he'll be terrified of the darn Lucky Dog again...
Are your kids afraid of people in costumes?
1 person likes this
10 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
11 Jun 10
Many people (not only kids) find costumes scary. Just think of the number of adults who are scared of clowns. That aversion must have begun somewhere in childhood.
I don't know why some kids are freaked out by 'real' characters (dressed up people). Often they are quite OK with watching the cartoons ... so what is different? I don't remember (I think I used to know).
One solution might be to introduce your four-year old to play acting by allowing him (or encouraging him) to dress up himself 'as' something. Some children at that age are almost obsessed with 'being' something that they are not (it's all part of finding out who we are) but a few can never 'pretend'. I don't know why. I think that the art of pretence is something that is essential to being a good human. It is something that some of us learn very early (as play-acting, pretending and what adults sometimes call 'lying') and a few find more difficult to comprehend.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
11 Jun 10
What you say - especially when you say that he doesn't like being picked up - sounds very like some of the definitions of Autism. I think that there is an infinite scale and that many children (and adults) have symptoms to a varying extent. People who have been diagnosed with autism are certainly significantly different from most of us and have difficulties in relating to the world that we (so called) 'normal' people have created and live in.
I think that it's quite possible to be 'slightly' or 'marginally' autistic or to have some peculiarities that look like that. Sometimes, the therapies that are used to help people with such disorders can give some insight onto how to help people who have unnatural fears.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
11 Jun 10
At four he is just at the beginning of being able to rationalise. He should be capable, with some rational explanation, of understanding that it's only a person dressed up and should soon be able to conquer his fear. His mind may, however, be one of those precious irrational ones which belong to truly creative people. We have to be very caring of such people. They have to learn to live in the world of 'normal' people and to channel their fears into their creativity.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
11 Jun 10
He often pretends he's something he's not, like Batman or a dog.. and yes he has dressed up before, he's not scared of that. He's just scared of grown people in a costume outside of the norm. As I mentioned in a previous post, he's not scared of Halloween. It might have something to do with the size of the costume or the fact that it's just unusual. He is a very particular child who likes things done in a particular way.. anything that varies from our usual routine tends to throw him for a loop.
@k2r3ncute (97)
• Philippines
12 Jun 10
it's kinda funny but seriously is terrfying to kids and sometimes traumatic. My brother also when he was younger he is also scared of mascots..I thought he's just overreacting but he really cried and is shaking when the mascot approached us when i was carrying him so me too I was terrified too so the next time we don't come too close from a mascot. but now he got over it already. maybe when they get older they realized it's not scary
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
12 Jun 10
Yes hopefully he will get over it soon. Unfortunately he's making his younger brother afraid too, and my younger one isn't normally afraid of anything.. he's just taking cues from Aydan.
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
12 Jun 10
Try it on a day that no one puts a costume on. Once he's afraid it's hard to turn the fear off.
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
12 Jun 10
For the most part my kids don't mind people in costumes. I'm not sure if the younger ones understand that there is a person inside there or not. They aren't the kids that will run up and hug them or high five them, but they will get close enough to check things out. There was one show on nickelodean that was like puppets talking and my daughter refused to watch it. She made me turn it every time it was on and said she was afraid of it.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
11 Jun 10
He's just a very particular child.. he doesn't like being picked up either, and will throw a total fit if you try it and never forgive you. Other than that he's pretty low key. But my guess is because it's something outside the norm. He's not afraid of actual animals, but these things that are all dressed up are just creepy I guess.
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
11 Jun 10
All kids are different and some are more different than others. There are (these days) many diagnoses/categories that one can choose to fit kids into so that they get 'special' treatment ... ADD, ADHD, Autism and so on. There are symptoms and ways of determining each of those (and other) 'disorders' but I think that there is no 'black' and 'white' but an infinite sliding scale so that all of us have some innate and some learned fears and affinities. There is a certain point where some kids really do need special care but most 'normal' kids go through phases ... some of these phases are irrational fears and some are irrational loves (which can often become 'life paths').
@TheCatLady (4691)
• Israel
12 Jun 10
Costumes can be scary to kids. Maybe you can have him play with the costume or other costumes some day after the parade. Then he can see it's all just clothing. Weird clothing, but clothing.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
12 Jun 10
We tried that yesterday.. the guy wearing the costume took the head off to show it was just a person underneath, and hubby put the head on the hood of my car where the kids could see it wasn't going to do anything. My youngest, the 2 year old, got out and pet the head, but Aydan wouldn't. He just kept saying he wanted to go home.
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
12 Jun 10
Hey kats~ Awww! Poor little guy! I think I totally can identify
with Aydan though! I have always hated clowns to this day! At
least I found out that I am not alone in my fear of clowns and
that there are alot of people who have this fear, which I forgot
what it is called but it is big enough to have a phobia named
after it! I hope that he is ok and happy to see his Dad in the
Parade! Maybe it will take his attention of "Lucky Dog"! You
can only hope!
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
12 Jun 10
I was afraid of clowns and sewer drains for awhile after seeing the movie IT.. but other than that no real major fears of anything, except dogs but I have a good reason for that one.. I was bit when I was small.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
11 Jun 10
He doesn't have a problem with Halloween.. I thought he would, but even some of the scarier costumes he's not afraid of. I think he expects it on Halloween because he and everyone else are dressed up. It's odd that he finds these type characters to be scary, but it could just be cause it's outside of the norm.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
15 Jun 10
No, they really aren't. We went to Disneyworld about 3 1/2 years ago, and they were fine with having their pictures taken with pretty much all the characters.
@angelajoy (1825)
• Philippines
12 Jun 10
I don't have my own kid, but I have a niece who's afraid of people in costumes, especially clowns. She really hates clowns. She knows they're just people, but that doesn't stop her from getting scared of them. She doesn't like mascots at all. She wouldn't like a mascot even if it's her favorite character. We try to help her get rid of her fear, but nothing seems to be working. We even let her watch the clown putting on his make-up so that she will see what he really looks like, but that didn't help either. I guess we'll just have to wait for her to outgrow her fear.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
26 Jun 10
I was able to confirm this evening that Paul is definitely not afraid of people that are in costume. You see, our local minor league baseball team had a promotion going on where the good tickets only cost two dollars each so we decided to take the kids. Big L and Ellie came down the aisle directly where we were sitting and Paul actually wouldn't leave them alone. He loved seeing them. Come to think of it, Kathryn was never afraid of people in costumes either.
