Traumatized by Halloween?

My son is almost 2 and we went trick-or-treating both at the mall and in the neighborhood this year and he seems completely unphased by any of it. He was unusually quiet while we were trick-or-treating as if trying to absorb everything but never seemed scared or overwhelmed. I hope Nolan feels better soon!

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We have never had a Halloween traumatization, but if it is spiders in particular get him the original Miss Spider's Tea Party book (http://tinyurl.com/353rr8) and read it to him. Maybe that will help.

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I don't think Nolan is alone! He will soon forget about it, and then next year you can decide if you he seems ready to see those things again.

We had to stop taking Margot to Target, the grocery store, etc. about two weeks before Halloween. She was TERRIFIED of the full size goblins, scary butlers, masks, etc. It was really kind of heart wrenching, because she would tremble and bury her face in our neck. I have no idea why this stuff was scaring her so much, but we really did try to shield her after seeing the reaction.

We didn't take her trick or treating, mostly because she is only 2 and we think that is just too young. She doesn't need candy at 2, and with her fear of masks and things, it would have been a recipe for disaster. Instead, we dressed her up, visited my work and Grandma's house. There will be plenty more years for candy haulin' when she won't be so skiddish.

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Our two year old has been declaring certain area of our house to be "spooky" ever since Halloween. He also will say that he's scared and come running over to us, but I wouldn't say he's traumatized or anything like that. He had a great time trick-or-treating with his 6 year old brother, but a few of the neighbors more elaborate decorations may be lingering in his mind in an unwelcome way for a bit.

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My only concern is this: if you believe he wasn't exposed to scary spiders over Halloween, then where is he getting the fear from?

The one thing my daughter got shaken up about was a motorized bat hanging on someone's porch. But every time we have seen a bat in a particular Dora book, she is excited about it.

I don't know, I am suspicious that there is some incident you are unaware of that caused the fear of spiders. Only because you don't recall him being exposed to them during Halloween. Is there a chance he could have seen spiders with the Nanny? Or maybe he actually saw a spider at night and therein lies the midnight connection.

I am most likely reading into this way too much, but it breaks my heart to imagine my own 2yo having nightmares.

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My son (almost 2yo) saw a few minutes of some kind of Halloween video at daycare when the older kids were watching it one day (the older kids watch a video every Friday as a treat). Anyway, the video had a ghost, and for about a week he would run around saying "I hear a ghost" and getting really scared. It only happened in the early evening, never at night, but it only lasted about a week. If he's scared of spiders, you could try singing Itsy Bitsy Spider. We have a lot of spiders in our yard and such, and I am constantly trying to keep my son away from the webs because he thinks they are all happy Itsy Bitsy Spiders that want to play with him.

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For some crazy reason we have bats in our house as well as a monster who has the worst sweet tooth in the world.

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