5 Year Old with Typical Fears - or More?

My son is 5 and is the same way. He won't go to the bathroom alone or go to another room alone. It's getting to be a little ridiculous, but he's scared and we just accommodate him and hopefully he outgrows it. We do advise him that there is nothing to be afraid of, but it still doesn't seem to work.

This is fairly common.
Bear in mind, that "fears" in children, start from about 2 years old, as well as night mares etc.
It is because, their imaginations and cognition, is changing.
And "fears"... will manifest itself, differently, per age.
Even 8 year olds, have fears of night time or "monsters" or of the dark, etc.
Your child is not unusual.

Both my kids, have had spurts of being JUST like your daughter too.
And my kids are 5 and 9.

Bear in mind, that kids "fears" are just generalized or just childhood stuff.
So they may not be able to tell you SPECIFIC things, like an adult would.
They are young.
To a child, "monsters" are anything scary.
I had those too, when I was a kid.

Your child does not seem extreme to me.

And yes, children get more attached or less, per age. My son is 5, and he is again really attached to me. No biggie. It is a phase. I know that so I take it in stride. He was like that at 3 years old too.

What you can do is, just tell your daughter that if she is scared of something, she CAN tell you. Instead of screaming it.

You know what? My daughter went through this same darned thing. And here's the rub ... we have a single-story house on the small side. So pretty much anywhere you go, we can see one another. I mean, she wouldn't go into the bathroom to brush her teeth alone, even though it's off the family room and my husband and I were sitting there in view of the bathroom. Always asked us to go into her bedroom with her when she needed to put her jammies on in the evening. It finally mellowed out, so it was just a phase. I don't think this is doctor-visit worthy, but whatever puts your mind at ease. Sounds totally normal to me.

My girls went through a similar phase around age 4. They didn't scream or anything, but they talked about scary dreams, monsters, mean people, etc. And they didn't like to go into a dark room. We used "monster spray" (a windex bottle filled with water) every night before she went to bed and that helped - we told her that the spray would make sure no monsters came into her room while she slept.

I have and 8 year old with the same problem...she never outgrew it. I lay with her for about 15 minutes until she falls asleep

My 4.5 year old is very similar. She does not scream or refuse to do things alone, but she does mention she is having bad dreams or bad imaginations (daydreams) and needs someone to lay with her at bedtime.
I think it's a pretty common phase as they get older. We don't allow a lot of TV at home and the shows she watches are educational, but I know that the boys at her daycare play a lot of superheroes, cops and robbers and that stuff... it affects her. In addition you have the "stranger danger talk" and increasing maturity to understand danger, injury and death... thinking about it I would probably be scared learning about all of this while not quite understanding it yet...
Good luck.

Sounds like my just-turned 5yo strong willed dd. She won't go to bed by herself, and mostly refuses to be upstairs by herself (even just to grab an item and come back downstairs). We've been pretty patient, hoping she'll grow out of it. We're still waiting.

Sounds like my 5 1/2 year old to me. He just has such a vivid imagination, and it's difficult to quiet his mind sometimes. Some days he's exhausted and has no trouble falling asleep. Other days he yells for us two or three times or won't go to his room or the basement by himself in the evening (unless we turn on the light for him).

I'm not sure what to do, either, but for now I just reassure him and try to be patient. I'm sure they will both grow out of it.

My son who is 15 now went through a very similar time-he would not go downstairs by himself (we have a ranch walk out) and he could not stand to hear anything violent or bad (could not have the news on when he was around), every time someone drove into the drive way he thought they were there to "take him", etc..but it is a normal phase and they grow out of it. I think they get to an age where they become more aware of the world around them...we just had to reassure him and let him know he was safe and that we were here to protect him-can't remember how long it lasted but we laugh about it now-how he would sit at the top of the stairs and wait for his older brother to go downstairs so he could go with him..hang in there, this too shall pass!