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#1 09/14/2009 11:12:31pm

aswami
Member
Registered: 03/22/2009
Posts: 8

My girl is afraid of flies, please help!

hey ladies...
i have a 3 1/2 yr old girl who is terrified of flies. If she sees one she wont eat or go to the potty if its inside the classroom or home....I am very stressed and have tried reading bug books and talking to her preschool teacher and talking to my daughter

Any ideas of how she can conquer the fear of flies?

Thanks and hope to hear from some ladies

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#2 09/15/2009 8:36:00am

creatress
Member
Registered: 09/12/2007
Posts: 984

Re: My girl is afraid of flies, please help!

YES! Lucky for you I just finished a course in Applied Behavior Analysis, and this fits the bill beautifully.

First, I would ask if she freaks when you read bug books, and/or around plastic bugs. If the answer is no... that's a great start! If yes, I would begin there.

If she freaks at small plastic flys, I would very slowly introduce them into her environment. Like "we're going to visit Mr. Fly!" Get just close enough so she's uncomfortable (not in a complete panic), then give her a highly desired reward right away (sucker, sticker, DVD time, whatever she adores.) Say something like "Nice job visiting the fly!" Build on this in baby steps, going a little closer and staying a little longer. If she freaks totally, you went too fast. Take a step back and keep moving.

If it's only REAL flys that freaks her out, here's my suggestion. Get a dead one, put it in a jar. Repeat the above activity, eventually upgrading to a live one in a jar.

What you're doing is two things. You're desensitizing her to the "fight or flight" instinct that she has around them. At the same time, you're re-wiring her instinct process by giving her something she very much wants only around the fly. It's the same thing as dog training really. Helping her overcome a fear by getting her to associate it with something positive rather than negative.

Good luck! Keep us posted. smile

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#3 09/15/2009 11:51:55am

aswami
Member
Registered: 03/22/2009
Posts: 8

Re: My girl is afraid of flies, please help!

hey...thanks for your input...i will definitely try the dead fly in the jar thing...Nope she has no problem reading and touching the plastic flies or bugs...

will definitely keep you posted..

-Thanks

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#4 09/15/2009 12:41:29pm

creatress
Member
Registered: 09/12/2007
Posts: 984

Re: My girl is afraid of flies, please help!

That's actually really great that it's only the "real thing" that she's so afraid of. It should be easier to help her get over the phobia that way. Not that I'm saying she'll ever LOVE flys, but she should be able to tollerate it without the "fight or flight" reaction.

Good luck! smile

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#5 09/15/2009 1:58:04pm

PLS7984
Member
Registered: 09/26/2007
Posts: 120

Re: My girl is afraid of flies, please help!

Whoa!!  Great advice Creatress... something that I can apply to other things that my child fears...

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#6 09/15/2009 2:05:29pm

creatress
Member
Registered: 09/12/2007
Posts: 984

Re: My girl is afraid of flies, please help!

Glad I could help! wink

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#7 09/17/2009 5:02:22pm

JulieHintz
Member
Registered: 08/06/2008
Posts: 22

Re: My girl is afraid of flies, please help!

Oooh, good one!  My two and a half year old little girl freaks out about flies, too.  Not AS much as the other little girl, but she will scream and literally cry if one even comes close to landing on her.  I think she thinks they're going to sting her or bite her or something. 

I just reassure her at the time that they can't hurt her and that they are just tickly if they do land on you.  It helps a LITTLE, but she still kind of panics.

Glad to hear it's SOMEWHAT common, anyway.  :-)

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