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FEAR!!! What is it??
(10/26/08 - 11/1/08)
Growing up I was a kid that was always afraid, I grew up in a very rural (OK the boonies) town where there weren't a lot of houses near mine and my house was in the middles of the woods. You would always get weird noises of animals coming from the darkness, the branches of the trees would cast eerie shadows on my bedroom walls, and the old house would creek and moan with the changing of the weather and temperature.
Was I afraid of these things because they were different? Was I afraid because as humans we are genetically programed to fear them? Or maybe it was because I watched scary movies, or saw my mother or sisters afraid so I LEARNED to be afraid......the truth is I don't really know.
This week with Halloween fast approaching the stores were in full display with there aisles of candy, masks, decorations, and costumes. As parents Paul and I have NEVER EVER scared Jacob. We have honestly sheltered him from anything that would scare him, and have never exposed him to any sort of masks, goblins, spiders, or weird creepy music. So when we were walking through different stores this week the pure fear that went through Jacob shocked Paul and I. It wasn't just a whimper or a quiet MAMA coming from the stroller it was an all out FEAR PANICKED SCREAM with Jacob physically shuttering and then trying to crawl and scratch his way out of the stroller and into my arms!
This happened a few times this week because you can't even go to the grocery store without some sort of Halloween decorations being up. First it was the big furry spider that had blinky red eyes, then it was the skull mask that was haphazardly askew on the under stuffed pillowcase body, then multiple times it was simply masks, or animated candy dishes that would shriek or cackle as you walked by them and set off their motion sensors.
No matter how you sliced it this week has shown me that fear MUST be somehow genetically ingrained in us. How did Jacob know to be scared of these things? Is he the only 14 month old that behaves this way?? Have I been blessed with a scare-dy cat for a child?? I would love to know if anyone else has had this problem? I am just glad that Halloween is over now so that all of these evil creatures can be packed away.......OH NO!!! NOW WE HAVE HUGE SANTA FIGURES TO SEE!!! Say your prayers people!!!!
Last year Jake was only 2 months old for Halloween so I didn't dress him up, I put on his BOO PJ's that his godmother got him and took a picture and Photoshopped him to look like a mouse! This year I have done the same thing because honestly he isn't walking yet, he doesn't eat candy (except for the occasional bite of some chocolate that I have) and he isn't really into anything. He loves the Backyardigan's and the Imagination Movers, but is obviously not asking for them nor will he understand that he would be dressing up as them. So I got him a "Pirate" shirt with the good 'ole "Jolly Roger" skull and crossbones on it and Photoshopped him to look like a Pirate!!!
As the Backyardigans say:
What do you do with a Scurvy pirate?
Load the cannon up and fire it!
What do you do with a Scurvy Pirate?
MAKE HIM WALK THE PLANK!!!
ARGH!! Happy Halloween Me Hearties!!!
Alma Woodsey Thomas Art Project
2 years ago
3 comments:
Happy Halloween. Odd that Jake got scared at those things. You must be correct about being born with a touch of it.
Nice costume too. Luke was going to be a pirate, but didn't get a real chance to trick or treat.
There are different types of infant fear, outside of learned fear (like being afraid of going to the doctor, learned due to the fun-filled joys of the vaccination needle). Things like stranger anxiety (social curiosity giving way to caution after the first few months), loss of the mother (likely linked genetically due to survival needs), a sudden sensory change (the whole scary-loud-noise thing), or a violation of what was expected. The last would be my guess. The traditional look of the stores he has seen are dramatically different, drenched in orange and black with hanging spiders and masks. So, even though such objects wouldn't be associated with "bad" (e.g., he doesn't know spiders can bite, he doesn't know about goblins being bad guys in fairy tales, etc.), that such things are now magically appearing in places they weren't ever at before could trigger a fear reaction.
Here's a fairly dated article (1975), but it has some fun examples at the beginning regarding such things. On page 5 of the PDF is one regarding fear due to an expectation violation, thanks to a mother dressing up; quite thematic for a Halloween discussion IMO: http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/31/7b/60.pdf
I don't remember if my parents took pleasure in inducing fear in me or not (I can imagine my dad being amused by it, my mom probably not), but I do recall heavy exposure levels in what pre-5 memories I have. I remember watching Elvira's Movie Macabre, and I also became a zombie addict and would repeatedly rent zombie movies. The latter resulted in nightmares, which I complained about. My mother asked why I kept watching zombie movies if they gave me nightmares. I imagine my answer was the ever-favorite "I dunno", but I kept watching them anyway. /shrug
Zonrith - WOW! Thanks for all of the information, it does make total sense now that you list it out like that. I just assumed he somehow knew to be afraid of the boogeyman....your comment was great! Thanks!!!!
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