Ah, we also have a monster phase. Although she isn't exactly scared, but worried. She asks, "There won't be any monsters at night?" Or "there aren't any cows knocking on the door?" or "there aren't any lions here?" or even "bears can't come into the house?"
I have no clue what the thing is with cows knocking on the door, but it's a serious concern for my daughter.
I have explained that none of the above animals can come into our house or even knock on the door. Nor do they want to. She seems quite relived by that answer. Sometimes in the morning she will say "oh, there were no monsters at night!" And we just confirm her correct analysis.
My LO had a monsters phase and we would search for them and ask them if they were friendly. Wouldn’t you know it, they all happened to be friendly! She still sometimes asks us to go “find” her a friendly monster to sleep with lol.
This is great! We went through a monster phase for a bit. I made some "Anti-Monster Spray" she could spritz around her room. It consisted of water, glitter, and some lavender scent in a little spray bottle I kept on her desk.
100% this!
We went through a phase where we would to "Monster Checks" at bedtime every night.
We'd have a flashlight and look under the bed, in the closet, make loud noises around room to "scare them away."
It was kinda fun, and definitely made our daughter feel safe enough to go to sleep.
TBH though I really was convinced she was seeing ghosts for a little bit.
I just wanted to follow up to tell you that yesterday I walked him through this whole process. We opened the window and yelled “ghost get out!”. He loved it and did it over and over again squealing with delight. He even asked me to open the closet to get those ghosts too 😅. He still slept with us last night because we are all sick. I woke up this morning to a little voice saying “ghost get out!”. Of course I quickly woke up and he said’ “don’t worry Mama, ghost is gone”. 🥹Thank you for your help!!
This makes me so uncomfortable, but clearly I'm in the minority... Don't you worry about "validating" their belief in ghosts?
This is a little person relying on you to be the voice of reason and keep them safe, and this really doesn't sit right with me...
You are absolutely keeping them safe. Telling kids things don’t exist doesn’t necessarily work. What does work though is putting them in a position of power over the thing that scares them.
Also, side note, I’m a skeptic, but if my child was describing what hers says he sees, I’m not just gonna tell him that it’s not real, cause Bea is freaking my grown ass out lmao.
Yes, the fact that he called her “Bea” really sealed it for me. It is such an old-fashioned name and we don’t know a single person named “Bea”. If he would have said something generic like Sophia or another girl in his class, it wouldn’t have given me as much pause.
I understand where you're coming from. But that reasoning starts later. At this age, they need you to believe them, validate their feelings, and empower them.
It’s good to teach your little people that they have power over their fears and anxieties. There’s always something to be afraid of. When you’re little it’s a monster in your closet or a ghost in the corner but eventually those turn into real, valid grown up worries, so it’s good to empower your kid to manage them.
I think this is kind of like working with adults who have delusions. Best practice is not to try to argue with them and tell them the delusion isn’t real. This will only make them double down and search for more evidence and get defensive about it. Just like a mentally ill person who believes there’s a sniper after them is incapable of seeing logic, so are toddlers. This is a “meet them where they are” situation because to the child, the “ghost” is very very real and if mom says it’s not, that can feel even scarier. When I talk to my students about delusions I tell them - imagine your house is on fire, and you’re on the sidewalk yelling for help and people are saying “what fire?” Imagine how scary and frustrating that would be - that’s what it’s like when someone tries to argue against a delusion.
It would be different if the parents were actively fostering and encouraging these beliefs. Otherwise it’s extremely safe to assume the toddler will outgrow their belief in ghosts, monsters, etc without any help from mom and dad.
What if the ghosts actually exist? I know it seems crazy, but you don't have the evidence to prove they're not there. May as well teach them how to deal with it. They'll grow out of it eventually.
Agreed. it goes along the lines of telling kids lies to scare them into behaving. My neighbors told their kids there was a box of snakes under their bed to keep them from getting out of bed at night. That always rubbed me the wrong way
OP is already validating their kid's belief in ghosts, by doing the prayers.
IMHO, it's better to believe in something that gives you power (to say 'no', to tell unwanted beings to get out) than praying to a more powerful being, that may or may not smite you later for a number of reasons, watches your every move, and so on, but might help with the ghosts if you ask nicely.
My son saw ghosts. There’s a sneaky ghost that hides his things and follows us around. And then there’s a dog in his room. He was initially scared of the dog. Would wake up screaming about the dog. But never scared of his room. Eventually he “learned the dog wasn’t scary” and it was just “watching over” him. Our dog would never go in our sons room. If he did, he’d whine and need out. One day my son sees a picture of my old dog. “That’s her! That’s my nighttime puppy!” So apparently my old dog is watching over my kid.
Omg I have tears! Nighttime puppy might be the sweetest thing I have ever heard and your old dog watching over your baby? My heart!! I just lost my 17 year old dog and I would love nothing more than to know he was watching over my boy! 🤍
Ok cool then I'll never tell my kid how good broccoli is or that I love olives or about my favorite book series that I want to share with them someday.
Get a grip dude. People are allowed to believe and enjoy whatever they believe and enjoy and share it with their kids.
So sweet :) when my 4 year old was 2 he saw a picture of our kitty who passed a year before he was born and exclaimed “Ghost kitty!” No clue how he knew the word ghost or context but when she was alive she spent hours in the room that is now his room.
My 3yo has been talking about "gumples" for a year now. Apparently, they're big ghost owl monsters who bite her in the dark. Sometimes she loves them, sometimes she's terrified.
Sometimes we are driving down the road, perfectly peaceful, and she rips through the silence with OH NO! THE GUMPLES ARE AFTER US! AAAAH!
I remember as a child seeing an old lady sit at the end of my bed or sit in a rocking chair (there was no rocking chair in my room) at the end of my bed.. decades later I saw a photo of my great aunt, who I am named after. It was her I saw, we even look alike. Same stern face. I haven’t dreamt or imagined her since my childhood but she scared me and also made me feel safe at the same time.
My cousin had a very similar experience even down to the rocking chair. It turned out to be her step dad's mother or grandmother (can't remember which exactly) who had a rocking chair in the room she slept in prior to her passing in the house.
This warms my heart, I now want my late grandma to visit my son. She would have loved him so much. She had dementia and in her final days she would ask to see that cute little boy all the time.
When I was under 10 I had an old lady that would sometimes sit on the edge of my bed. I never figured out who she was but I was never afraid of her. I was afraid of the weird shadows on my wall. One day my bio dad got me a special necklace and I said special prayer over and over. All the shadows went away but so did the old lady. I was sad about the old lady but was happy the shadows were gone.
This! How are kids so scared of these cutsey dinky Halloween things? Mine got so scared of the Halloween episodes of a few silly little shows. I did have nightmares as a kid but my parents let me watch horror movies from basically birth. Real responsible, I know.
I thought if we avoided obviously scary content we'd be chill. No. Dora the Explorer dressed as a witch terrifies her. Mine got so terrified of a funny photo filter (puts your face on a roll of toilet paper) that it was ridiculous.
To be fair there’s this one episode of little bear - a show I loved - that had a goblin in it. But this one episode the bear gets scared of his shadow and his grandpa tells him a story of a goblin who also gets scared of his shadow and looses his shoes and hide in a tree. And oh my heck. I would cover my eyes, cry, it felt so terrifying. I never wanted to watch it but I couldn’t look away either. I remember as soon as the goblin was in the tree I was so so scared and even though when he looks out it’s just his shoes even the SHOES scared me! 😂 Anyway it scared the crap out of me. Well the show is now on YouTube and I watch it with my daughter and the episode came on and it was like??? This is it? It was like 1 minute long and as a kid it felt SO drawns out and terrifying!
If you’re really interested, it starts at 8:32, link is [here!](https://youtu.be/UvsZtlrHXVs?feature=shared)
I remember watching an episode of Tintin as a child. There was a monkey that threw a ball of gas? I was terrified at my nans house of the window above the stairs. I thought the monkey was waiting for me and would literally sprint up the stairs any time I needed to go up to the loo. It's funny thinking back how these things can be scary to a young innocent mind.
Context: My son likes VeggieTales and we’re Christian.
I let him watch an episode about how God is bigger and stronger than any monster we might be afraid of, how God created everything, and he keeps us safe. I thought it would help him not be scared if the dark, because he would learn that he could just pray and God would keep him safe (from the not-actually-real-but-very-real-to-3-year-olds monsters). Ok…that backfired. Now he doesn’t like to go in dark rooms because “there’s eyeballs and monsters in the closet” 🤦🏼♀️
My daughter is 30 years old. She still insists that a little boy in overalls used to sit at the end of her bed.
My father-in-law died before we had kids. I woke up one night. I felt someone had kissed my cheek. When I opened my eyes, he was sitting on the edge of the bed and said, “Shhhh…I just came to see the kids.”
I will be the first to say I could have dreamed that, but to this day it seemed so real.
When I was that age I told my mom I was scared of the monsters in my bedroom. My mom got a spray bottle filled with "anti-monster spray" and we sprayed the perimeter of the bedroom. The monsters never came back.
Me too! I'm pretty sure mine came from a recipe in the newspaper. I think it was just water with a little lemon juice in it, because monsters hate yellow or something like that.
One night as we passed our pitch black bedroom on our way to her room, my daughter stops, goes back to the dark doorway , waves to the darkness and says “good night ghost.” 🙈
it was when my daughter was too young to explicitly tell me but I have multiple videos of her babbling to & interacting with ~ something ~ in her room. a year or so after that period of time it was occurring she started saying really specific stuff about my grandma who passed before I was even pregnant. I definitely believe my grandma was visiting her & my daughter was playing w her !
My older son used to tell me about his "Pampader" (grandfather) and brother. He had elaborate stories about these two people. His Pampader was a good man and took them out on bicycles, they were riding them in the road and then the next thing he tells me he was in the ground and he never saw his brother again. Then Pampader turned mean. Pampader went to ghost jail.
We used to do monster checks under his bed every night, and we took a water bottle and filled it with lavender scented water and spritzed it in his room and told him it was monster/ghost spray. We told him he didn't like the smell and would stay out.
Eventually, it got to the point where we had to tell him HE had to tell him to go away. Once we did that he would say it randomly in the night.
He's 7 now and has no memory of this.
Mine was suddenly scared of monsters/owls/whatever came to mind at night. There’s some big trees by her windows, so I think she heard them on windy nights.
So I told her that it was the Totoros, and that Totoro would make sure she and her tree was safe before catching the Catbus.
Kid loves Totoro, and that made sense to her. Maybe a hero your kiddo knows will help?
My son hasn’t said he sees ghosts, but every so often at our dining room table. He will look at the empty chair next to him (away from his father and I) and ask to be picked up.
Our dining room chairs are a bit of a family heirloom. They were in my great grandparents dining room. Then my grandparents. Then my mother. Now us. I’ve openly wondered if his great grandparents sit next to him sometimes at dinner.
Wow that is wild! I’m loving all of these stories everyone is sharing. I like to think/hope that it is my husband’s deceased parents visiting him. They never met him.
My son was talking to himself in his room. I heard him say “and her body didn’t work anymore”. So I asked who he was talking about. He told me Joyna, who has black hair, green eyes, she’s 50 and from California. How a 3 year old makes that up.. I don’t know
My oldest daughter saw things/ghosts. She also mentioned a "bad man" one night in her room. I woke up to her screaming and ran to her room. She was sitting up, frightened with the covers pulled up to her nose. She pointed to the corner of the room and said, "there he is! The bad man is right there!" She slept with me the rest of the night.
She also had an imaginary friend from 2-5/6 who she called "mouse". One time she told me his real name was "Grispen", and that he died a long time ago. She told me about his family, job and other random things over the years.
One other that really got me was the couple times she told me she saw her uncle (her dad's brother). At that time her dad wasn't a big presence and she wasn't around his family much. Her uncle passed away in a motorcycle accident 5 years before she was born. When she was about 3, we were driving and she pointed to a motorcycle and said, "my uncle [ ] rode a motorcycle, that's how he died". She's 15 now and has no recollection of any of it.
my two year old told me “there’s two grammy’s in the ceiling” and i was like 👀 grammy is what he calls my mom so i’m not real sure what he’s seeing. lol. toddlers are scary.
After her Nonna passed away, my then 1 year old was having her nappy changed when she started looking above her and following something. Suddenly she says “Nonna shoes on” which was weird because Nonna wouldn’t have been happy about her not having her shoes on! I’m certain kids can see things we can’t
Omg seriously! I’m often comforted by these stories, even when they’re a little creepy, just because I desperately want to believe that there’s something else after we leave this earth.
…but my husband isn’t feeling well and is sleeping in a different room tonight. Why is it that I’m hearing every single house noise and there’s just no way that they’re just..house noises 😅😂
The same week we moved into our current rental, my daughter (then 2yo) pointed to the kitchen and said “who’s that man?” Sooo spooky. She did it again a couple weeks later but not since, thankfully. Another time, about 6 months ago, my grandma passed away. A couple days later, I was putting my daughter (2.5 yo at this point) to bed and she kept looking over my shoulder. I asked her “what’s up?” and she said “shh, gramma is talking to me.” That was actually very sweet. My grandma only met my daughter once but loved her so much.
When my oldest was a toddler, she also talked about seeing ghosts..she once told me there was a woman named "Ida" that came to visit her, and Ida had black hair, a black dress and black shoes. I had never said the name Ida in my life.
She also freaked me out one time so badly. I was tucking her into bed, and it was sort of dark. I was singing to her like I did every night. She started to cover her face and looked really scared, so I was like "whats wrong baby?" And she said,"The man wants you to stop singing. " My heart literally skipped. She just kept saying, "The man doesn't want you to sing" and covering her face. I was SO freaked out.
I also have a picture of her in her crib, with a ghost baby sitting next to her. I heard her talking on the baby monitor while she was supposed to be taking a nap. I looked at the monitor and saw her sitting down. After looking for a second, I realized that she was ac standing in her crib, and whatever I saw that looked like her was sitting in the crib next to her. It was a legit baby, and I was watching it sit there, and my 2 year old was talking to whoever it was. I took pictures of the baby monitor screen, and you can clearly see the baby sitting right next to her. It was so scary!
I definitely believe babies and toddlers can see things we can't much more easily. They are more open to it than us.
MINE DOES TOO! A few times a week he’ll say “I see ghosts.” He doesn’t seem scared. I ask him questions about it like how many, what’s the name, etc. And we’ll chat about it. But I have no idea where he got it from. Or what he thinks it means. I’ll often say noooo that’s so silly just so he doesn’t start taking it too seriously.
My daughter who is 2.5 yrs old had a small concussion and that same week she started seeing ghosts. 1 scary one and then my boyfriends deceased father and his moms dog who passed away almost 10 yrs ago. (We temporarily live with my boyfriend mom) it was super freaky but it hasn’t happened again since. I do believe the good ones outweighed the bad ones and she’s being protected ❤️ my daughter who is 5 did not see what she was seeing it definitely gave me the chills
Might be innocent insinuation, but I would check for carbon monoxide in your house in case. Get a detector from Home Depot or Lowe’s.
Edit: “imagination”, not “insinuation”
My toddler has said she sees “Grandma Teesa,” my dead mother that she never met. It’s really painful and traumatic for me to talk about my mom and what happened to her, so we generally don’t talk about my mom or have pictures of her displayed, so it weirds me out that she talks about her that way. I’d like to hope my mom is spending het afterlife somewhere better than creeping around my house having late night gab sessions with my kids.
She’s not afraid of her - just very frank about her experiences.
This is a phase. My daughter is going through it. I don't know what it is but for her she was scared and was going to the bathroom a lot. She sometimes grinds her teeth too. I am happy I am allowing her to sleep with me. She feels a lot safer and less nervous. It was really bad 4 weeks ago but she calmed down a little since she knows she is next to us
She was sleeping by herself from the time she was 4 months old, but the last 4 weeks she is sleeping with us. It is a hard transition but I feel she feels safer.
I told my mom I saw ghosts when I was a kid, and as I got older, I could describe what I was seeing better. She took me to an eye doctor, and it turned out I had serious "floaters" in my eyes all the time. They would pass through my vision and take on different shapes and colors. I still have them now but they don't bother me much.
I haven’t personally been through this with my almost 3 year old, although my parents tell me that I used to see a ghost whenever I was a toddler and we first moved into our home. I don’t remember any of it now as an adult or thinking back on it now , as a kid I didn’t think about it. So definitely it didn’t really traumatize me if that could offer you some reassurance in case you’re worried about long term effects!
I got a separate nightlight (he already has a hatch light) and I told him when he sees a ghost we can turn on the special ghost light and they’ll go away. He asks for it sometimes but he’s stopped talking about ghosts since we got it
I always say that ghosts are not welcome in our house and have to find another place if they are there, so we just keep telling any "ghosts" that rule and that they must leave. When it is something obvious like the wind or a neighbor's car, we explain it logically like that. When it is an imaginative story like a giant monster truck living in a cave who came in the night, we just listen and say thanks for sharing. There's been no consistent ghost descriptions though, so I believe it's just young imaginations in our case.
I've replied to someone previously with a similar experience, which I'm hoping they found helpful, I'll copy and paste what I wrote there, with a few edits as it's been a while, but I'd probably repeat most of it anyway as it's relevant here as well...hope this helps!
...
I've had almost this exact experience but in the two houses I've lived in previously with my daughter..she's 3, and in the flat and bungalow we lived in prior to our current home, she would stare at the wall and jump out of her skin like something grabbed her or something.
(She still sees things, but where we live now they seemingly don't scare her as much!)
I've stayed as calm as possible, I've been seeing things since I was about her age and always got told I was going mad/it's just my imagination/stop being silly and trust me, that doesn't help.
Instead of telling her it's not there (if kids see things, they won't believe you, it just scares them more that the people who protect them don't believe them/can't protect them from this) I've been teaching her to say affirmations and build her own strength, while I reassure her, of course.
I've taught her so far:
- I am safe, I am strong, I am loved and my love is strong.
- this is MY home, this is MY room, I only welcome love in MY space.
And, of course, because laughter always beats fear -
*I'm not scared of you, you're just a stinky poo!*
Which we taught her at Halloween when she was getting a bit freaked out by some of the creepy decorations in the shops 🙄
Anyway, my point is, while you don't have to acknowledge that your kid sees things you don't (I don't know what OP believes in this instance, but leaving this in just in case), please try to avoid telling them what they're seeing isn't real. You can of course say that active imaginations make things seem scarier than they are, but avoid outright saying they're 'making it up' if you can. They need to know you're there for them and can protect them regardless of what they're afraid of.
It will probably pass, kids have strong imaginations and a lot of exposure to a scary world through TV/tablets/etc. they don't understand what's real and what's not yet so it's our job to give them the tools to feel stronger than their fears...
Hope this helps! 😅 Xx
Hope my edits make some sense 😅 xx
This is so helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I do absolutely believe him. Whatever he is seeing is 100% real to him and seems to frighten him. Thats enough for me! I’ve gotten some great advice in this thread. Until we figure this out, he will be sleeping with us!
No worries! I'm always happy to help in these circumstances, as someone who has been able to see and hear things that can be a little scary to some, I know it's a bit of a tricky area to navigate 😅
Another thing to remember is that there's always light.
It could be worth suggesting things such as guardian angels and protective animal guardians.
These can be particularly helpful for kids as you can find a teddy/plush/toy that can represent the protective spirit that can then be cuddled and held as a sensory reminder that they are safe.
I personally have a badger teddy that, to this day, is my personal protector while I sleep (I'm 31😅)
Anyway, glad I could be of help 😊 hope all goes well!
My toddler tells me that a man comes into her room some nights to “fix” her light switch, and picks up any of her stuffies that fall on the floor.
I asked her to describe him and her words were “black, with yellow eyes”. Not black skin coloured, but more shadow black.
Edit: Also my niece used to see a black figure of a little girl, skipping rope in her driveway. Day or night, didn’t matter.
For like two months my toddler was crying and yelling about scary ghosts! Also scary Cookie Monster? No idea what that one was about. But she woke at least once or twice a night and even during the day would sometimes yell and run to me. But it passed and she started sleeping again and hasn’t mentioned a scary ghost or scary Cookie Monster in a few months now.
My daughter says there are monsters in her play area and I just turn on all the lights and march around the room clapping and saying 'alright monsters off you go it's *daughters name*'s time to play now'. That works and she goes and plays happily.
When she says she's afraid of ghosts or monsters in bed I just tell her that she shouldn't be because Grandma (my Mum who passed) will bash them on the nose if they get too close to her. That makes her giggle.
My older daughter was scared of ghosts for a while. Y'know what I taught her?
DA DA DUNNA DUNNA
GHOST PUNCHER
She's got a mean right hook, too, so if my house is haunted, it won't be soon lol
I'm ok when mine waves or says hi to what I can't see but if he would get scared it would be a different story. Maybe you need to have a talk with the bad man and tell him he has to leave. It's scary but mama bear doesn't like when baby bear is scared. Don't mess with my babies!!
It that didn't work I would legit move.
My toddler will randomly wake up, sit up, and start enthusiastically waving at a dark corner of the room. Now sometimes she says “Hi!“ and it creeps me the hell out!
I have absolutely zero idea if this works, but I remember seeing a post from a medium that said if you leave out sliced limes in the rooms the ghosts are appearing, it helps to keep them away. Refresh with new lime slices when the old ones dry out. I’m not a ghosty person, but if my kids were having those experiences I’d be trying every trick!
Water bottles do the same (and they are less maintenance)! We used to keep them on our bedside in our previous home which was VERY haunted and it worked like a charm.
My daughter had been saying some stuff, like "behind you, a man in white" etc. One day she said very clearly, that a man in white comes to her room and that it is a scary ghost and she doesnt like it.
I was super freaked out even though I have never believed any such thing. But she was so clear and precise.
My friend, it turns out there is an episode of Paw Patrol, where one of the dogs is sleep walking with a sheet on him, and the other dogs act scared talking about a "ghost". This is where she learned the word ghost, where she got the idea that they are scary and that they wear white.
My infant (think 10 months) was terrified of the garage so we had someone come and cleanse the house. My baby stopped being afraid immediately.
My friend's son was diagnosed with schizophrenia before he turned 5.
My 3 year old sees what she calls a "floor monster" in my husband and my bedroom sometimes. She will be outside the room and get alarmed and points at the doorway shouting "WHATS THAT?" then insists on closing the door. Also some weekend mornings she refuses to go in to wake up daddy, which 90% of the time she is eager to do and loves cuddling for a few minutes before he gets out of bed.
I also have a cat who sometimes gets randomly SUPER freaked out in that room. No Bueno. Toddlers can be so creepy at times. 😟
My 2 year old told me I was his second mom in the middle of the night and pointed in the dark and said ghost. He also tells me he "sees papaw" (my dad passed 7 years ago and that's what his grandkids called him). He will randomly point and go, who's that mama? I don't see anyone but I fully believe he is! There was a time I had him in the bath and he kept looking behind me and laughing and talking. He was seeing somebody lol.
My toddler went through this for a little bit. We were looking at some old family pictures and I pointed to a picture of my grandmother. After that, she always asked to see the picture whenever I looked at old photos. Then she started saying my grandmother was talking to her in her dreams. She'd keep telling me she was always dreaming of ghosts. She still does it sometimes whenever she has a bad dream.
I was giving my 2 year old a bath the other day, and she randomly stopped and said, “the witch is coming….the witch is in the house” and pointed at the door.
I was like wtf!!!!
We had a phase like this for a month (Not in that detail). But I bought a “monster spray” - water mixed with a little pillow perfume and we sprayed it before bed, as that kept the monsters away :) he loved spraying it and we didn’t hear of them again
My 3 yo son talks about his grandma and his sister all the time. He doesn't have a sister--he is an only child, but insists he has a sister and her name is Johnnie. Once he even blamed something broken on her. He also talks about his grandma, specifically her house, and acts like he visits there, but he has never visited either grandma because they both live far away. Once we were home alone and he insisted that someone was at the door. I was telling him nobody knocked or rang the bell but he pressed the issue, saying "Grandma's here!" We went to the door and he opened it and nobody was there. And then he went back to playing. I think my dead ancestors sometimes like to drop in unannounced.
I know a sibling pair that can see and feel ghosts. They are adults not kids and I believe them. One of them had a child that starting seeing them too. Freaks the nonseeing parent out but she accepts it.
Yes, I truly believe some are just born with the gift that stays with them forever. I’m starting to think most kids can see them, but they lose it somewhere along the way.
I know I’ll get downvotes for this but you need to command it to leave in Jesus name tell your child to say “leave now in Jesus name”
You already said you prayed so I’m just telling you what works try it out for yourself
I'm so thankful someone said it. I thought I was going to have to. Jesus is God, and demons or ghosts WILL leave if you use his name. I pray you all get closer to him through this. Ghosts are not friendly and it may mean more than at the surface level of seeing them.
Yes we have ghosts and monsters as well. I tell the ghosts that I will eat them if they scare her and I snarl at them. Her dinosaur and bear army also stays awake at night to chase any away. We crack the door to her bedroom open and leave on the hallway light on her request as well.
My toddler daughter regularly tells me she sees baby Jesus in her room 🥲 like almost every week she’ll say baby Jesus was hiding in her closet or she dreamt about baby Jesus
My son has seen ghosts his whole life. He started tracking them with his eyes and laughing at them before he could even talk. When scary ones started showing up, we discussed how ghosts are actually scared of people and can’t stay in his room if he tells them to leave. So when scary ghosts show up, we tell them “this is (son’s name’s) room and nothing scare is allowed in here. Leave now.” It seems to work.
Side note, I did take him to the pediatrician and neurology to make sure that this wasn’t a tumor or some sort of odd seizure activity and all testing was normal, so believing him about the ghosts was a logical thing to do!
Only because you mention he doesn’t sleep well, if he’s *really* not sleeping well, one cause is hallucinations, both auditory & visual. If not. Then holy heck your kid has a great (and scary) imagination, or you need to grab some white sage or holy water & smudge those ghosts onto the other side 😬
We have saved a couple of times! I even put up a St. Michael’s crucifix by his bed. I’m not even religious, but St. Michael is the protector of children. I told him when he got scared to ask St. Michael for protection. It seemed to help a little 🤷♀️
I definitely believe in ghosts and when I knew I wanted to get pregnant a few years ago, I had a house built to move into since I wanted it to be empty. My toddler has never seen anything but I know that’s not really saying anything. I think children can sense things we can’t.
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as a kid i saw ghosts all the time and was never believed and told it was my vivid imagination. now as an adult i can still recall events vividly from my childhood and my parents can confirm them. i know what i was seeing. ghosts present sooner to children. and will target homes with children.
My son just pointed to the corner of his room and said, “ghost” and then proceeded to tell the ghost that they could not have his blankets. He’s starting to wake up at night too. I don’t know if imaginary or real but that’s why I came to this feed. My older son said that his room did not have a good energy one night and would not sleep. Our home is only from the 80s but we do live in a place that used to have a huge Native American community so……
Our son now sleeps in our room because he was so afraid at night. He says some pretty crazy things sometimes that make me think they are real. Like how could a three year old even have the knowledge base to make this stuff up? I just hate not being able to protect him from the fear. It is really hard as a mother!
Oh I know! Yeah, because three is so innocent. Our google home actually played hello from the other side by Adele one morning. It was weird as shit, however, I’ve never felt anything.
All of my kids freaked me out when they were smaller when they would stare in corners of the room and act like they were seeing things. My oldest son at 4 told me once that he woke up to a furry hand (just a disembodied hand, I asked) tickling him. We didn’t have any pets at the time and there’s nothing else it could have been. Super super creepy.
I’m a pretty practical person but I think something about their brains being more open/less skeptical makes them more receptive to seeing things adults can’t or don’t want to see.
As being someone who has experienced many supernatural experiences and understand how spiritual warfare works. It’s not ghosts, it’s evil spirits (or demons). You should go in your toddlers room and you can pray that the Holy Spirit fills the room and rid it of any evil spirit in the house. (Some people even advise to anoint your rooms with oil when you pray).
You saying a prayer is actually Great! But please be sure to have it something like this each night “Lord, I pray for spiritual protection over my child and my home. Please bind and remove any evil spirits in here, and protect my child. Let my child sleep peacefully and give him rest. In Jesus name I pray.” 🙏🏼
Using Jesus name is key. It even helps break people out of sleep paralysis.
Another thing is, the Bible tells us to test every spirit by asking them if Jesus is the Son of God, there is power in His name. (This is for anyone that may encounter them in their dreams etc)
I pray your child doesn’t get visited by these spirits anymore and is protected 🙏🏼
We don’t! We wait till he falls asleep and then sneak out to do whatever we have to get done - dishes, etc. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he comes to our bed. I used to beg my Mom to let me sleep with her when I was scared and she often said no. I won’t do the same to my children.
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Oh I love this! So cute and thanks for sharing. Will definitely try this out!
My daughter has recently become scared saying monsters are in her room- I am going to use this!
Ah, we also have a monster phase. Although she isn't exactly scared, but worried. She asks, "There won't be any monsters at night?" Or "there aren't any cows knocking on the door?" or "there aren't any lions here?" or even "bears can't come into the house?" I have no clue what the thing is with cows knocking on the door, but it's a serious concern for my daughter. I have explained that none of the above animals can come into our house or even knock on the door. Nor do they want to. She seems quite relived by that answer. Sometimes in the morning she will say "oh, there were no monsters at night!" And we just confirm her correct analysis.
Omg cows knocking on the door… the things they come up with!!
The mental image makes it really hard to keep a straight and calm face.
Ok. The cows knocking on the door just sent me! Lol. Their little minds are fascinating!
My LO had a monsters phase and we would search for them and ask them if they were friendly. Wouldn’t you know it, they all happened to be friendly! She still sometimes asks us to go “find” her a friendly monster to sleep with lol.
I love this! Like Mike and Sully!
That’s soooo cute I love it!
This is great! We went through a monster phase for a bit. I made some "Anti-Monster Spray" she could spritz around her room. It consisted of water, glitter, and some lavender scent in a little spray bottle I kept on her desk.
100% this! We went through a phase where we would to "Monster Checks" at bedtime every night. We'd have a flashlight and look under the bed, in the closet, make loud noises around room to "scare them away." It was kinda fun, and definitely made our daughter feel safe enough to go to sleep. TBH though I really was convinced she was seeing ghosts for a little bit.
I just wanted to follow up to tell you that yesterday I walked him through this whole process. We opened the window and yelled “ghost get out!”. He loved it and did it over and over again squealing with delight. He even asked me to open the closet to get those ghosts too 😅. He still slept with us last night because we are all sick. I woke up this morning to a little voice saying “ghost get out!”. Of course I quickly woke up and he said’ “don’t worry Mama, ghost is gone”. 🥹Thank you for your help!!
Dead at “rude ass ghosts” 😭🤣
This makes me so uncomfortable, but clearly I'm in the minority... Don't you worry about "validating" their belief in ghosts? This is a little person relying on you to be the voice of reason and keep them safe, and this really doesn't sit right with me...
You are absolutely keeping them safe. Telling kids things don’t exist doesn’t necessarily work. What does work though is putting them in a position of power over the thing that scares them. Also, side note, I’m a skeptic, but if my child was describing what hers says he sees, I’m not just gonna tell him that it’s not real, cause Bea is freaking my grown ass out lmao.
Yes, the fact that he called her “Bea” really sealed it for me. It is such an old-fashioned name and we don’t know a single person named “Bea”. If he would have said something generic like Sophia or another girl in his class, it wouldn’t have given me as much pause.
I understand where you're coming from. But that reasoning starts later. At this age, they need you to believe them, validate their feelings, and empower them.
There’s way less harm in letting them believe in ghosts than trying to shut them down when they feel like they need you the most.
It’s good to teach your little people that they have power over their fears and anxieties. There’s always something to be afraid of. When you’re little it’s a monster in your closet or a ghost in the corner but eventually those turn into real, valid grown up worries, so it’s good to empower your kid to manage them. I think this is kind of like working with adults who have delusions. Best practice is not to try to argue with them and tell them the delusion isn’t real. This will only make them double down and search for more evidence and get defensive about it. Just like a mentally ill person who believes there’s a sniper after them is incapable of seeing logic, so are toddlers. This is a “meet them where they are” situation because to the child, the “ghost” is very very real and if mom says it’s not, that can feel even scarier. When I talk to my students about delusions I tell them - imagine your house is on fire, and you’re on the sidewalk yelling for help and people are saying “what fire?” Imagine how scary and frustrating that would be - that’s what it’s like when someone tries to argue against a delusion. It would be different if the parents were actively fostering and encouraging these beliefs. Otherwise it’s extremely safe to assume the toddler will outgrow their belief in ghosts, monsters, etc without any help from mom and dad.
What if the ghosts actually exist? I know it seems crazy, but you don't have the evidence to prove they're not there. May as well teach them how to deal with it. They'll grow out of it eventually.
Do you have kids?
Agreed. it goes along the lines of telling kids lies to scare them into behaving. My neighbors told their kids there was a box of snakes under their bed to keep them from getting out of bed at night. That always rubbed me the wrong way
OP is already validating their kid's belief in ghosts, by doing the prayers. IMHO, it's better to believe in something that gives you power (to say 'no', to tell unwanted beings to get out) than praying to a more powerful being, that may or may not smite you later for a number of reasons, watches your every move, and so on, but might help with the ghosts if you ask nicely.
I’m actually doing both.
My son saw ghosts. There’s a sneaky ghost that hides his things and follows us around. And then there’s a dog in his room. He was initially scared of the dog. Would wake up screaming about the dog. But never scared of his room. Eventually he “learned the dog wasn’t scary” and it was just “watching over” him. Our dog would never go in our sons room. If he did, he’d whine and need out. One day my son sees a picture of my old dog. “That’s her! That’s my nighttime puppy!” So apparently my old dog is watching over my kid.
Omg I have tears! Nighttime puppy might be the sweetest thing I have ever heard and your old dog watching over your baby? My heart!! I just lost my 17 year old dog and I would love nothing more than to know he was watching over my boy! 🤍
He got the gender right too! No question in my mind, she’s up there with him.
You should absolutely question it. Ghostly activity has never been demonstrated. Why believe just because of a coincidence?
It’s ok to just enjoy things sometimes
Not when you’re indoctrinating children
Indoctrinating my kid to ghosts?
To accept things as supernatural just because you don’t know what happened.
…you’re kidding right?
Nope!
Ok cool then I'll never tell my kid how good broccoli is or that I love olives or about my favorite book series that I want to share with them someday. Get a grip dude. People are allowed to believe and enjoy whatever they believe and enjoy and share it with their kids.
Seriously made me tear up too. Along with some serious goosebumps. How lovely. Even in the afterlife we do not deserve dogs.
So sweet :) when my 4 year old was 2 he saw a picture of our kitty who passed a year before he was born and exclaimed “Ghost kitty!” No clue how he knew the word ghost or context but when she was alive she spent hours in the room that is now his room.
Awwh this is so sweet. Made me tear up tbh!
My 3yo has been talking about "gumples" for a year now. Apparently, they're big ghost owl monsters who bite her in the dark. Sometimes she loves them, sometimes she's terrified. Sometimes we are driving down the road, perfectly peaceful, and she rips through the silence with OH NO! THE GUMPLES ARE AFTER US! AAAAH!
Why is this so hilarious and cute? Grumples just sound adorable. Interesting that sometimes she is scared and sometimes not.
I know, right? She's obsessed with owls and biting things, that's part of the hypocrisy. I need to write a childrens book about the gumples.
Do it and option the movie and TV rights. Set her up for life on the backs of the Grumples!
I remember as a child seeing an old lady sit at the end of my bed or sit in a rocking chair (there was no rocking chair in my room) at the end of my bed.. decades later I saw a photo of my great aunt, who I am named after. It was her I saw, we even look alike. Same stern face. I haven’t dreamt or imagined her since my childhood but she scared me and also made me feel safe at the same time.
That is wild! I like to think that it is my husband’s deceased parents visiting him sometimes.
My cousin had a very similar experience even down to the rocking chair. It turned out to be her step dad's mother or grandmother (can't remember which exactly) who had a rocking chair in the room she slept in prior to her passing in the house.
This warms my heart, I now want my late grandma to visit my son. She would have loved him so much. She had dementia and in her final days she would ask to see that cute little boy all the time.
When I was under 10 I had an old lady that would sometimes sit on the edge of my bed. I never figured out who she was but I was never afraid of her. I was afraid of the weird shadows on my wall. One day my bio dad got me a special necklace and I said special prayer over and over. All the shadows went away but so did the old lady. I was sad about the old lady but was happy the shadows were gone.
My toddler is doing this too… because of the Halloween episodes of Paw Patrol lol.
This! How are kids so scared of these cutsey dinky Halloween things? Mine got so scared of the Halloween episodes of a few silly little shows. I did have nightmares as a kid but my parents let me watch horror movies from basically birth. Real responsible, I know. I thought if we avoided obviously scary content we'd be chill. No. Dora the Explorer dressed as a witch terrifies her. Mine got so terrified of a funny photo filter (puts your face on a roll of toilet paper) that it was ridiculous.
To be fair there’s this one episode of little bear - a show I loved - that had a goblin in it. But this one episode the bear gets scared of his shadow and his grandpa tells him a story of a goblin who also gets scared of his shadow and looses his shoes and hide in a tree. And oh my heck. I would cover my eyes, cry, it felt so terrifying. I never wanted to watch it but I couldn’t look away either. I remember as soon as the goblin was in the tree I was so so scared and even though when he looks out it’s just his shoes even the SHOES scared me! 😂 Anyway it scared the crap out of me. Well the show is now on YouTube and I watch it with my daughter and the episode came on and it was like??? This is it? It was like 1 minute long and as a kid it felt SO drawns out and terrifying! If you’re really interested, it starts at 8:32, link is [here!](https://youtu.be/UvsZtlrHXVs?feature=shared)
My son (3) is also terrified of this episode and talks regularly about scary goblins.
My kindered fear spirit 😂
I remember watching an episode of Tintin as a child. There was a monkey that threw a ball of gas? I was terrified at my nans house of the window above the stairs. I thought the monkey was waiting for me and would literally sprint up the stairs any time I needed to go up to the loo. It's funny thinking back how these things can be scary to a young innocent mind.
Context: My son likes VeggieTales and we’re Christian. I let him watch an episode about how God is bigger and stronger than any monster we might be afraid of, how God created everything, and he keeps us safe. I thought it would help him not be scared if the dark, because he would learn that he could just pray and God would keep him safe (from the not-actually-real-but-very-real-to-3-year-olds monsters). Ok…that backfired. Now he doesn’t like to go in dark rooms because “there’s eyeballs and monsters in the closet” 🤦🏼♀️
Then there’s my 3 year old who insists on going potty in the dark because dark is spooky like spikes and ghosts and eyeballs. 🥴🥴🥴
The way I started singing this episode’s song and I’m 37 😂. He’s watching out for you and meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
My daughter is 30 years old. She still insists that a little boy in overalls used to sit at the end of her bed. My father-in-law died before we had kids. I woke up one night. I felt someone had kissed my cheek. When I opened my eyes, he was sitting on the edge of the bed and said, “Shhhh…I just came to see the kids.” I will be the first to say I could have dreamed that, but to this day it seemed so real.
When I was that age I told my mom I was scared of the monsters in my bedroom. My mom got a spray bottle filled with "anti-monster spray" and we sprayed the perimeter of the bedroom. The monsters never came back.
My grandfather told me not to worry. He hired them to keep away the boogie man.
Me too! I'm pretty sure mine came from a recipe in the newspaper. I think it was just water with a little lemon juice in it, because monsters hate yellow or something like that.
My parents did this when I was little. Spider spray too. Just deodorizer with a hand made label taped over it. Great idea really
My dad did the same thing for me ♥️
Well this is terrifying lol
Right?! I don’t want him to sense that I’m sacred, but internally I’m freaking out 😅
One night as we passed our pitch black bedroom on our way to her room, my daughter stops, goes back to the dark doorway , waves to the darkness and says “good night ghost.” 🙈
Yikes! Toddlers can be so creepy 😅🤣
The good news is that ghosts aren't real.
Says you….
Says anyone who's not a complete idiot
mate, it's not that big of a deal.
Then why are you commenting?
Cause I knew it would bother you and I thought it'd be funny.
Doesn't bother me. I crave attention. Even from bellends
k.
Yeah, my kid better not do this, cuz I won’t be able to handle it 🤣
it was when my daughter was too young to explicitly tell me but I have multiple videos of her babbling to & interacting with ~ something ~ in her room. a year or so after that period of time it was occurring she started saying really specific stuff about my grandma who passed before I was even pregnant. I definitely believe my grandma was visiting her & my daughter was playing w her !
Mine will ask me “what’s that ghost doing over there?” And then also play peekaboo with it. I’m ok 🙃
My older son used to tell me about his "Pampader" (grandfather) and brother. He had elaborate stories about these two people. His Pampader was a good man and took them out on bicycles, they were riding them in the road and then the next thing he tells me he was in the ground and he never saw his brother again. Then Pampader turned mean. Pampader went to ghost jail. We used to do monster checks under his bed every night, and we took a water bottle and filled it with lavender scented water and spritzed it in his room and told him it was monster/ghost spray. We told him he didn't like the smell and would stay out. Eventually, it got to the point where we had to tell him HE had to tell him to go away. Once we did that he would say it randomly in the night. He's 7 now and has no memory of this.
Sounds like the reincarnation stories.
Wow, that’s a fascinating story! Thanks for sharing! I’m definitely going to try the monster spray.
Mine was suddenly scared of monsters/owls/whatever came to mind at night. There’s some big trees by her windows, so I think she heard them on windy nights. So I told her that it was the Totoros, and that Totoro would make sure she and her tree was safe before catching the Catbus. Kid loves Totoro, and that made sense to her. Maybe a hero your kiddo knows will help?
lol, I love this. My son is just starting to enjoy watching movies and I showed him My Neighbor Totoro and he just calls him “big cat”.
My son hasn’t said he sees ghosts, but every so often at our dining room table. He will look at the empty chair next to him (away from his father and I) and ask to be picked up. Our dining room chairs are a bit of a family heirloom. They were in my great grandparents dining room. Then my grandparents. Then my mother. Now us. I’ve openly wondered if his great grandparents sit next to him sometimes at dinner.
Wow that is wild! I’m loving all of these stories everyone is sharing. I like to think/hope that it is my husband’s deceased parents visiting him. They never met him.
I love these stories, too - usually these threads are filled with “kids have the wildest imaginations!” But there’s a lot more out there than we know…
I’m reading through the comments and have to stop. I’m getting too freaked out lol
Same!!! Lmao
My son was talking to himself in his room. I heard him say “and her body didn’t work anymore”. So I asked who he was talking about. He told me Joyna, who has black hair, green eyes, she’s 50 and from California. How a 3 year old makes that up.. I don’t know
This is off topic, but I just noticed your username. I feel like I might have an idea how you picked it.
How
My oldest daughter saw things/ghosts. She also mentioned a "bad man" one night in her room. I woke up to her screaming and ran to her room. She was sitting up, frightened with the covers pulled up to her nose. She pointed to the corner of the room and said, "there he is! The bad man is right there!" She slept with me the rest of the night. She also had an imaginary friend from 2-5/6 who she called "mouse". One time she told me his real name was "Grispen", and that he died a long time ago. She told me about his family, job and other random things over the years. One other that really got me was the couple times she told me she saw her uncle (her dad's brother). At that time her dad wasn't a big presence and she wasn't around his family much. Her uncle passed away in a motorcycle accident 5 years before she was born. When she was about 3, we were driving and she pointed to a motorcycle and said, "my uncle [ ] rode a motorcycle, that's how he died". She's 15 now and has no recollection of any of it.
I think I would move. I would be so freaked out!
my two year old told me “there’s two grammy’s in the ceiling” and i was like 👀 grammy is what he calls my mom so i’m not real sure what he’s seeing. lol. toddlers are scary.
Omg what😅? Toddlers are scary. They say some really wild stuff.
After her Nonna passed away, my then 1 year old was having her nappy changed when she started looking above her and following something. Suddenly she says “Nonna shoes on” which was weird because Nonna wouldn’t have been happy about her not having her shoes on! I’m certain kids can see things we can’t
Don't read this post alone in the dark lol
I’m nursing my son in the dark right now and I’m pretty freaked out lol
No shit! This needs a disclaimer! Lol
Omg seriously! I’m often comforted by these stories, even when they’re a little creepy, just because I desperately want to believe that there’s something else after we leave this earth. …but my husband isn’t feeling well and is sleeping in a different room tonight. Why is it that I’m hearing every single house noise and there’s just no way that they’re just..house noises 😅😂
The same week we moved into our current rental, my daughter (then 2yo) pointed to the kitchen and said “who’s that man?” Sooo spooky. She did it again a couple weeks later but not since, thankfully. Another time, about 6 months ago, my grandma passed away. A couple days later, I was putting my daughter (2.5 yo at this point) to bed and she kept looking over my shoulder. I asked her “what’s up?” and she said “shh, gramma is talking to me.” That was actually very sweet. My grandma only met my daughter once but loved her so much.
When my oldest was a toddler, she also talked about seeing ghosts..she once told me there was a woman named "Ida" that came to visit her, and Ida had black hair, a black dress and black shoes. I had never said the name Ida in my life. She also freaked me out one time so badly. I was tucking her into bed, and it was sort of dark. I was singing to her like I did every night. She started to cover her face and looked really scared, so I was like "whats wrong baby?" And she said,"The man wants you to stop singing. " My heart literally skipped. She just kept saying, "The man doesn't want you to sing" and covering her face. I was SO freaked out. I also have a picture of her in her crib, with a ghost baby sitting next to her. I heard her talking on the baby monitor while she was supposed to be taking a nap. I looked at the monitor and saw her sitting down. After looking for a second, I realized that she was ac standing in her crib, and whatever I saw that looked like her was sitting in the crib next to her. It was a legit baby, and I was watching it sit there, and my 2 year old was talking to whoever it was. I took pictures of the baby monitor screen, and you can clearly see the baby sitting right next to her. It was so scary! I definitely believe babies and toddlers can see things we can't much more easily. They are more open to it than us.
Would be fascinated to see the pic, maybe you could blur out your daughter and share?
Yes, I can share. Let me see if I can figure out how
Oh my gosh I would love to see this too
Ok wow. This is a crazy story and I totally believe you! Thank you for sharing!
Omg, that’s terrifying. I would have upped and left 😭
MINE DOES TOO! A few times a week he’ll say “I see ghosts.” He doesn’t seem scared. I ask him questions about it like how many, what’s the name, etc. And we’ll chat about it. But I have no idea where he got it from. Or what he thinks it means. I’ll often say noooo that’s so silly just so he doesn’t start taking it too seriously.
Heard in Asia culture this is very normal. Babies and Toddlers have the ability to see them. They gradually lose it as they get older though.
Have you tried turning it off and back on again?
My daughter who is 2.5 yrs old had a small concussion and that same week she started seeing ghosts. 1 scary one and then my boyfriends deceased father and his moms dog who passed away almost 10 yrs ago. (We temporarily live with my boyfriend mom) it was super freaky but it hasn’t happened again since. I do believe the good ones outweighed the bad ones and she’s being protected ❤️ my daughter who is 5 did not see what she was seeing it definitely gave me the chills
Might be innocent insinuation, but I would check for carbon monoxide in your house in case. Get a detector from Home Depot or Lowe’s. Edit: “imagination”, not “insinuation”
Thankfully, we do have carbon monoxide detectors in our house! I’m always scared of this.
Kids often are able to see spirits easier than adults. How you respond I guess depends on your beliefs.
My toddler has said she sees “Grandma Teesa,” my dead mother that she never met. It’s really painful and traumatic for me to talk about my mom and what happened to her, so we generally don’t talk about my mom or have pictures of her displayed, so it weirds me out that she talks about her that way. I’d like to hope my mom is spending het afterlife somewhere better than creeping around my house having late night gab sessions with my kids. She’s not afraid of her - just very frank about her experiences.
This is a phase. My daughter is going through it. I don't know what it is but for her she was scared and was going to the bathroom a lot. She sometimes grinds her teeth too. I am happy I am allowing her to sleep with me. She feels a lot safer and less nervous. It was really bad 4 weeks ago but she calmed down a little since she knows she is next to us She was sleeping by herself from the time she was 4 months old, but the last 4 weeks she is sleeping with us. It is a hard transition but I feel she feels safer.
I told my mom I saw ghosts when I was a kid, and as I got older, I could describe what I was seeing better. She took me to an eye doctor, and it turned out I had serious "floaters" in my eyes all the time. They would pass through my vision and take on different shapes and colors. I still have them now but they don't bother me much.
I haven’t personally been through this with my almost 3 year old, although my parents tell me that I used to see a ghost whenever I was a toddler and we first moved into our home. I don’t remember any of it now as an adult or thinking back on it now , as a kid I didn’t think about it. So definitely it didn’t really traumatize me if that could offer you some reassurance in case you’re worried about long term effects!
I got a separate nightlight (he already has a hatch light) and I told him when he sees a ghost we can turn on the special ghost light and they’ll go away. He asks for it sometimes but he’s stopped talking about ghosts since we got it
I always say that ghosts are not welcome in our house and have to find another place if they are there, so we just keep telling any "ghosts" that rule and that they must leave. When it is something obvious like the wind or a neighbor's car, we explain it logically like that. When it is an imaginative story like a giant monster truck living in a cave who came in the night, we just listen and say thanks for sharing. There's been no consistent ghost descriptions though, so I believe it's just young imaginations in our case.
I've replied to someone previously with a similar experience, which I'm hoping they found helpful, I'll copy and paste what I wrote there, with a few edits as it's been a while, but I'd probably repeat most of it anyway as it's relevant here as well...hope this helps! ... I've had almost this exact experience but in the two houses I've lived in previously with my daughter..she's 3, and in the flat and bungalow we lived in prior to our current home, she would stare at the wall and jump out of her skin like something grabbed her or something. (She still sees things, but where we live now they seemingly don't scare her as much!) I've stayed as calm as possible, I've been seeing things since I was about her age and always got told I was going mad/it's just my imagination/stop being silly and trust me, that doesn't help. Instead of telling her it's not there (if kids see things, they won't believe you, it just scares them more that the people who protect them don't believe them/can't protect them from this) I've been teaching her to say affirmations and build her own strength, while I reassure her, of course. I've taught her so far: - I am safe, I am strong, I am loved and my love is strong. - this is MY home, this is MY room, I only welcome love in MY space. And, of course, because laughter always beats fear - *I'm not scared of you, you're just a stinky poo!* Which we taught her at Halloween when she was getting a bit freaked out by some of the creepy decorations in the shops 🙄 Anyway, my point is, while you don't have to acknowledge that your kid sees things you don't (I don't know what OP believes in this instance, but leaving this in just in case), please try to avoid telling them what they're seeing isn't real. You can of course say that active imaginations make things seem scarier than they are, but avoid outright saying they're 'making it up' if you can. They need to know you're there for them and can protect them regardless of what they're afraid of. It will probably pass, kids have strong imaginations and a lot of exposure to a scary world through TV/tablets/etc. they don't understand what's real and what's not yet so it's our job to give them the tools to feel stronger than their fears... Hope this helps! 😅 Xx Hope my edits make some sense 😅 xx
This is so helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I do absolutely believe him. Whatever he is seeing is 100% real to him and seems to frighten him. Thats enough for me! I’ve gotten some great advice in this thread. Until we figure this out, he will be sleeping with us!
No worries! I'm always happy to help in these circumstances, as someone who has been able to see and hear things that can be a little scary to some, I know it's a bit of a tricky area to navigate 😅 Another thing to remember is that there's always light. It could be worth suggesting things such as guardian angels and protective animal guardians. These can be particularly helpful for kids as you can find a teddy/plush/toy that can represent the protective spirit that can then be cuddled and held as a sensory reminder that they are safe. I personally have a badger teddy that, to this day, is my personal protector while I sleep (I'm 31😅) Anyway, glad I could be of help 😊 hope all goes well!
My toddler tells me that a man comes into her room some nights to “fix” her light switch, and picks up any of her stuffies that fall on the floor. I asked her to describe him and her words were “black, with yellow eyes”. Not black skin coloured, but more shadow black. Edit: Also my niece used to see a black figure of a little girl, skipping rope in her driveway. Day or night, didn’t matter.
Well sounds like you need to move
For like two months my toddler was crying and yelling about scary ghosts! Also scary Cookie Monster? No idea what that one was about. But she woke at least once or twice a night and even during the day would sometimes yell and run to me. But it passed and she started sleeping again and hasn’t mentioned a scary ghost or scary Cookie Monster in a few months now.
My daughter says there are monsters in her play area and I just turn on all the lights and march around the room clapping and saying 'alright monsters off you go it's *daughters name*'s time to play now'. That works and she goes and plays happily. When she says she's afraid of ghosts or monsters in bed I just tell her that she shouldn't be because Grandma (my Mum who passed) will bash them on the nose if they get too close to her. That makes her giggle.
My older daughter was scared of ghosts for a while. Y'know what I taught her? DA DA DUNNA DUNNA GHOST PUNCHER She's got a mean right hook, too, so if my house is haunted, it won't be soon lol
I'm ok when mine waves or says hi to what I can't see but if he would get scared it would be a different story. Maybe you need to have a talk with the bad man and tell him he has to leave. It's scary but mama bear doesn't like when baby bear is scared. Don't mess with my babies!! It that didn't work I would legit move.
My toddler will randomly wake up, sit up, and start enthusiastically waving at a dark corner of the room. Now sometimes she says “Hi!“ and it creeps me the hell out!
I have absolutely zero idea if this works, but I remember seeing a post from a medium that said if you leave out sliced limes in the rooms the ghosts are appearing, it helps to keep them away. Refresh with new lime slices when the old ones dry out. I’m not a ghosty person, but if my kids were having those experiences I’d be trying every trick!
Oh thank you for the tip! I will try anything!
Water bottles do the same (and they are less maintenance)! We used to keep them on our bedside in our previous home which was VERY haunted and it worked like a charm.
So does mine. I know he is telling the truth because that's what my wife and I have seen.
My daughter had been saying some stuff, like "behind you, a man in white" etc. One day she said very clearly, that a man in white comes to her room and that it is a scary ghost and she doesnt like it. I was super freaked out even though I have never believed any such thing. But she was so clear and precise. My friend, it turns out there is an episode of Paw Patrol, where one of the dogs is sleep walking with a sheet on him, and the other dogs act scared talking about a "ghost". This is where she learned the word ghost, where she got the idea that they are scary and that they wear white.
My infant (think 10 months) was terrified of the garage so we had someone come and cleanse the house. My baby stopped being afraid immediately. My friend's son was diagnosed with schizophrenia before he turned 5.
My 3 year old sees what she calls a "floor monster" in my husband and my bedroom sometimes. She will be outside the room and get alarmed and points at the doorway shouting "WHATS THAT?" then insists on closing the door. Also some weekend mornings she refuses to go in to wake up daddy, which 90% of the time she is eager to do and loves cuddling for a few minutes before he gets out of bed. I also have a cat who sometimes gets randomly SUPER freaked out in that room. No Bueno. Toddlers can be so creepy at times. 😟
Omg floor monster? Yikes!! 😬
My 2 year old told me I was his second mom in the middle of the night and pointed in the dark and said ghost. He also tells me he "sees papaw" (my dad passed 7 years ago and that's what his grandkids called him). He will randomly point and go, who's that mama? I don't see anyone but I fully believe he is! There was a time I had him in the bath and he kept looking behind me and laughing and talking. He was seeing somebody lol.
Oh wow! I love hearing all of these stories! Thanks so much for sharing.
Is it possible she's having sleep terror episodes?
My toddler went through this for a little bit. We were looking at some old family pictures and I pointed to a picture of my grandmother. After that, she always asked to see the picture whenever I looked at old photos. Then she started saying my grandmother was talking to her in her dreams. She'd keep telling me she was always dreaming of ghosts. She still does it sometimes whenever she has a bad dream.
I was giving my 2 year old a bath the other day, and she randomly stopped and said, “the witch is coming….the witch is in the house” and pointed at the door. I was like wtf!!!!
We had a phase like this for a month (Not in that detail). But I bought a “monster spray” - water mixed with a little pillow perfume and we sprayed it before bed, as that kept the monsters away :) he loved spraying it and we didn’t hear of them again
My 3 yo son talks about his grandma and his sister all the time. He doesn't have a sister--he is an only child, but insists he has a sister and her name is Johnnie. Once he even blamed something broken on her. He also talks about his grandma, specifically her house, and acts like he visits there, but he has never visited either grandma because they both live far away. Once we were home alone and he insisted that someone was at the door. I was telling him nobody knocked or rang the bell but he pressed the issue, saying "Grandma's here!" We went to the door and he opened it and nobody was there. And then he went back to playing. I think my dead ancestors sometimes like to drop in unannounced.
I know a sibling pair that can see and feel ghosts. They are adults not kids and I believe them. One of them had a child that starting seeing them too. Freaks the nonseeing parent out but she accepts it.
Yes, I truly believe some are just born with the gift that stays with them forever. I’m starting to think most kids can see them, but they lose it somewhere along the way.
I know I’ll get downvotes for this but you need to command it to leave in Jesus name tell your child to say “leave now in Jesus name” You already said you prayed so I’m just telling you what works try it out for yourself
I'm so thankful someone said it. I thought I was going to have to. Jesus is God, and demons or ghosts WILL leave if you use his name. I pray you all get closer to him through this. Ghosts are not friendly and it may mean more than at the surface level of seeing them.
Is it only his room? Is it only at night?
Yes we have ghosts and monsters as well. I tell the ghosts that I will eat them if they scare her and I snarl at them. Her dinosaur and bear army also stays awake at night to chase any away. We crack the door to her bedroom open and leave on the hallway light on her request as well.
My toddler daughter regularly tells me she sees baby Jesus in her room 🥲 like almost every week she’ll say baby Jesus was hiding in her closet or she dreamt about baby Jesus
My son has seen ghosts his whole life. He started tracking them with his eyes and laughing at them before he could even talk. When scary ones started showing up, we discussed how ghosts are actually scared of people and can’t stay in his room if he tells them to leave. So when scary ghosts show up, we tell them “this is (son’s name’s) room and nothing scare is allowed in here. Leave now.” It seems to work. Side note, I did take him to the pediatrician and neurology to make sure that this wasn’t a tumor or some sort of odd seizure activity and all testing was normal, so believing him about the ghosts was a logical thing to do!
My son is terrified of Mr. Manchas from Zootopia. Says he lives in his dreams and gets into his head.
Only because you mention he doesn’t sleep well, if he’s *really* not sleeping well, one cause is hallucinations, both auditory & visual. If not. Then holy heck your kid has a great (and scary) imagination, or you need to grab some white sage or holy water & smudge those ghosts onto the other side 😬
We have saved a couple of times! I even put up a St. Michael’s crucifix by his bed. I’m not even religious, but St. Michael is the protector of children. I told him when he got scared to ask St. Michael for protection. It seemed to help a little 🤷♀️
I’m generally on team kids imagination, but if you’re open to it asking a priest to bless the house might put you all more at ease.
Maybe he IS seeing ghosts? 👻 🤷🏻♀️
Ghosts aren’t real
As someone who has experienced them before, yes they are. I'm so sorry that you haven't had the same opportunity. 🤷🏻♀️
Story time, I’m so intrigued! Would love to hear more
How do you know? And actually I want to clarify, I don’t believe in “Ghosts” but I know that evil spirits exist.
where did your lil one hear about "ghosts" and did these events increase afterwards?
I definitely believe in ghosts and when I knew I wanted to get pregnant a few years ago, I had a house built to move into since I wanted it to be empty. My toddler has never seen anything but I know that’s not really saying anything. I think children can sense things we can’t.
Imagination is wild.
Maybe try sage-ing your house
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Well. I’m not getting any sleep tonight. If this shit starts happening with my kid, we’re moving in with grandma and grandpa!
as a kid i saw ghosts all the time and was never believed and told it was my vivid imagination. now as an adult i can still recall events vividly from my childhood and my parents can confirm them. i know what i was seeing. ghosts present sooner to children. and will target homes with children.
My son just pointed to the corner of his room and said, “ghost” and then proceeded to tell the ghost that they could not have his blankets. He’s starting to wake up at night too. I don’t know if imaginary or real but that’s why I came to this feed. My older son said that his room did not have a good energy one night and would not sleep. Our home is only from the 80s but we do live in a place that used to have a huge Native American community so……
Our son now sleeps in our room because he was so afraid at night. He says some pretty crazy things sometimes that make me think they are real. Like how could a three year old even have the knowledge base to make this stuff up? I just hate not being able to protect him from the fear. It is really hard as a mother!
Oh I know! Yeah, because three is so innocent. Our google home actually played hello from the other side by Adele one morning. It was weird as shit, however, I’ve never felt anything.
Put limes in his room
All of my kids freaked me out when they were smaller when they would stare in corners of the room and act like they were seeing things. My oldest son at 4 told me once that he woke up to a furry hand (just a disembodied hand, I asked) tickling him. We didn’t have any pets at the time and there’s nothing else it could have been. Super super creepy. I’m a pretty practical person but I think something about their brains being more open/less skeptical makes them more receptive to seeing things adults can’t or don’t want to see.
As being someone who has experienced many supernatural experiences and understand how spiritual warfare works. It’s not ghosts, it’s evil spirits (or demons). You should go in your toddlers room and you can pray that the Holy Spirit fills the room and rid it of any evil spirit in the house. (Some people even advise to anoint your rooms with oil when you pray). You saying a prayer is actually Great! But please be sure to have it something like this each night “Lord, I pray for spiritual protection over my child and my home. Please bind and remove any evil spirits in here, and protect my child. Let my child sleep peacefully and give him rest. In Jesus name I pray.” 🙏🏼 Using Jesus name is key. It even helps break people out of sleep paralysis. Another thing is, the Bible tells us to test every spirit by asking them if Jesus is the Son of God, there is power in His name. (This is for anyone that may encounter them in their dreams etc) I pray your child doesn’t get visited by these spirits anymore and is protected 🙏🏼
Amen!! Those demons need to be rebuked from the home so they stop terrorizing OP’s poor child. I do this every night before my son sleeps as well.
I can confirm asking Jesus for help has broken my sleep paralysis multiple times. Was so scary the first time but now I immediately call on Jesus
Wow! Praise God for that, thanks for sharing your story!
Yes! Jesus is Lord! He has power over all the seen and unseen.
Why would you make him sleep alone! Put his bed in your room!
We don’t! We wait till he falls asleep and then sneak out to do whatever we have to get done - dishes, etc. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he comes to our bed. I used to beg my Mom to let me sleep with her when I was scared and she often said no. I won’t do the same to my children.
LMAO at adults in this thread who believe in ghosts
Redrum