My Two and a Half Year Old Is Afraid.

Sounds like the kids smart. He is thinking since he was gone somebody could have been at the house. Leaving that house empty for so long has creeped this little guy out. You should say that grandma, grandpa, uncle or friend was staying at the house and you forgot to tell him that. Or tell him Angels or Special Angels stay at the house whenever a family leaves for a special vacation! I don't know if this is good advice but seems like the kid is smart! I cannot wait to hear the replies for I am sure they will be more helpful but I just had to respond to you because my heart goes out to this little guy! Bless his heart. I wish I could give him a hug, stuff animal and an angel pin and a candle to light for him! Good luck and God Bless! I will definetaly being praying for him and for his guardian angel to give him peace of mind and soul. Thank God this is just a short phase. Be patient!

Separation anxiety comes and goes until about five or six years of age. I think it's the coming and going that freaks us adults out. If it was a constant state we would have to adjust more gracefully.
I have heard of making a spray bottle with "monster repellant" and giving it to the child to use. ) Or some other magical ploy to get rid of those pesky monsters. I imagine something the child can wield is best...puts the power in their hands.
Good luck!

My son did the same thing at 3 years. He wouldn't even go to the bathroom by himself. I told him that whatever he was scared of, that thing was 10 times more scared of mommies. We also gave him his own little flashlight so he could see at night whenever he wanted. We would also try and sneak brave moments out of him. We would play in the family room and tell hiim something like,"This would be so much more fun if we had your lightsaber! You should go get it!" A lot of times he would go get it because he was too excited to be scared. I think it took about a month, give or take a couple of days, for him to be back to normal.

Hi A.-
You don't say where you went on vacation, who you were with, or where your child was sleeping. I'd begin with a physical to make sure that nothing happened that shouldn't have happened, and that nothing is wrong developmentally. It could just be that the vacation and the phase corresponded. We think we have them down, then they change.

Little children love routine abd sameness. They do not do well with schedule changes. He may just be adjusting to the vacation and coming home again.

Be as kind as you can be, and play in his room with him and his toys. Also- check out any movies he may have watched recently, and make sure that he isn't re-exposed to something that gives him nightmares, or makes him think of monsters everywhere.

There are lots of happy-ending monster books out there, including the Sendak book, 'Where the Wild Things Are' which I think is wonderful. Don't give him everything he wants because he cries and tantrums. That way lies a horrible child-rearing/ adolescent-raising experience for both of you. Hope it helps- S.

My 7 year old still gets like that sometimes....I will give him a flashlight and put the radio on, that helps. I tell him I will check on him after he is asleep. I have heard someone once talking about "spraying the room for mosters" using a spray bottle with colored water...? Never tried that one, but I always thought it sounded cute and could possibly work! good luck!

My kids just did it again last night - and they are 5 and 2 1/2. I let them take a toy bat upstairs, "incase they saw any bad guys" and then they went upstairs. We also installed dimmer switches in their rooms because the night lights weren't giving off enough light for them. When my daughter was little, we would always say the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer, and she would have a spray bottle or something with her to "shoot" the monsters. When we moved into our new house, the pest guy came while my kids and I were there, and I told them that he was spraying the house for monsters! The believed it. Ikea has bed nets, or there's a leaf too that you could put on his bed as a "shield". Get creative with it, but you have to be very animated about it so that your boys will believe it.