Well that’s a phrase I never thought I’d hear Kieran say. Or that I’d follow the instruction and give the hoover a cuddle!
Sophie is scared of the hoover. I’m sure lots of children are scared of the hoover, or something else. It’s odd for us because she’s scared of very little. I joke it must be because I don’t hoover enough so she doesn’t have enough exposure to it! However, it’s not something I want her to continue being scared of. Part of me thinks she will grow out of it in her own time. The other part of me wonders if there’s anything we should be doing to help her? Hence sitting on the floor last night, giving the hoover a cuddle….!
She definitely doesn’t like the noise the hoover makes, but recently has cried and moved away whenever it is in the same room as her even if it is off (it lives in the under-stairs cupboard so she often doesn’t see it). Yesterday after bath time, however, it was up in the spare room. I’d hoovered earlier (I don’t dare hoover with her in the room currently). She kept pointing at it and looking concerned, but there was no actual crying. Hence we found ourselves talking to the hoover, telling Sophie it was friendly, and showing her it was nothing to be scared of, by giving it a pat and a cuddle (although that was mainly me and not Kieran, I note!).
I don’t know if it worked. She didn’t cry and she did get closer to it, but she wasn’t confident around it at all. I didn’t expect it to work straight away anyway. We’ve also got a play hoover of the same type we have for her to use, which I need to get out now she’s walking around. But my random thoughts have been pondering if there’s anything else we should be doing to help her get over this very irrational fear..
RamblingsOfARachie 