Four- and Five-Year-Olds

This summer my 4 yo DD has become scared of everything.  She was never really a brave kid but she has days that she doesn't want to leave my side in our house because she is scared.  She has a tantrum if we ask her to change her own clothes by herself in her room, she wakes up at the slightest rumble of thunder and doesn't want to go to sleep by herself, she won't walk through a dark room without clinging to me, etc.  I can't think of anything that would have brought it on and am at a loss on what to do next.  So, has anyone experienced this or have any advice on how to get through it?

Karen

Since your dd has always been this way and the problem is getting worse, I'd ask the pediatrician about it (or a developmental pediatrician). They can help you decide whether she needs meds for her anxieties or whether there are other things you can try (maybe a psychologist for helping behaviorally?).

If your dd anxieties are too significant, I'm not sure this would work, but something you can try is to leave stickers or small treats hidden in plain sight around the house (you could hide it in something like plastic easter eggs to make it easily identifiable). So, when dd goes to change her clothes and finds a surprise in her dresser drawer, she associates something pleasant with being away from mom.

Good luck!

We're going through the very same thing. It's to the point where DS would rather be punished then obey a command to go to his room and change for bed. His preschool teacher said it's very common at this age. As a matter of fact, many of the 4 year olds in his class are experiencing the same thing.

We've done a number of things to help but the most successful has been the addition of the Mobi GloMate nightlight.

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/185-6210329-4454850?ASIN=B001HKPHYQ&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B001HKPHYQ|Mobi_TykeLight_GloMate_Portable_NightLight_Multicolor_LED&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B001HKPHYQ&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001

In a nutshell, it's a nightlight a child can sleep with and carry. The base serves to charge the batteries which stay on (for us) a solid 12+ hours each night. It has a number of settings which give the child the option of selecting a soothing color. I prefer the green myself but DS loves the red and blue. Anyhow, DS sleeps with it every night, hauling it to the bathroom as needed, and places it back in the charger in the morning. We still have problems getting DS to get into his bedroom at night but once there and settled in with his glow buddy, he stays put.

I'll be interested to read what other families have found successful.