"V" is for Volcano
My child is terrified of volcanoes. At her last preschool in Crabtown, when they got to "v" in their alphabet studies, they did an amazing blow-up papier-mâché volcano thing in the classroom. The experiment sounded awesome. But Crabtot didn't like it one bit.
"Where's Hawaii?" she asked nervously, and on a regular basis, after that day. "I don't want to go there," she'd add. Thus began a routine of volcanic conversation. "Do we live near Hawaii?" was a repeat question. "Nowhere near!" we soothed. "Have you ever seen a volcano?" she'd ask me. "Never!" I responded. "Volcanoes are faaaaar away," I reassured her. "They can't hurt you."
"Are there people who live near volcanoes?" Crabtot pressed us, night after night, day after day. "Do you know lava? Is there lava in Hawaii?"
We all know that teaching your kids not to fear things is key, that teaching them to face their fears is important. In theory. But with our three-year-old, the Crabfamily solution was just plain denial: There were no volcanoes anywhere near us, no people living near them. Never mind that at the time of her classroom experiment, we lived less than an hour from Yellowstone National Park, which is the largest caldera, or volcanic pustule, on the planet. When it blows they say it will take out the whole of the west. And that's before the radiation aftermath.
And now we live in the northwest, where Crabtot's favorite playground is on top of a small mountain. But not just any old mount. It's an extinct volcano. Just don't tell her that because we certainly won't.
What's the lesson here? I guess that there aren't very many v-words to teach preschoolers in the alphabet. Or at least, none suitable for young ears.
What frightens your kids? And how do you handle their fears?
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