3 Yo Extremely Afraid of Bugs

Maybe she thinks every bug is a bee and someone, maybe at a daycare center freaked out which then transferred to her? My kids had that fear when they were small but once they realized not every bug was a bee, they calmed down. My youngest still has a fear of spiders buy she doesn't have arachnophobia. It may be something as easy as getting to know her bugs, if not, you may want to talk to her Dr, about some sort of phobia, I don't know how old they can diagnose that. I hope she does get over it quickly.

Get her some books about bugs. My 3 year old is very similar but he is almost obssesed with them. I also got him some stickers with bugs. I don't know if it will help but it's an idea. Oh and you could rent the movies " Bugs Life" or "Ants"

Hi E.,

I posted a request on June 27th about the exact same thing. As a matter of fact, the incident with the fly in the car is the EXACT same thing I went through. You can go to my post and see the responses I received if you want. Unfortunately, I can only tell you that I am STILL battling the whole bug issue with my daughter. All I can do is be patient with her until this phase passes. If it worsens, then I'll plan to take her to the doctor. Yesterday, I took her to the kiddie pool. She was having a great time until she thought she saw a bug in the water. I saw her jumping around in the water screaming and crying, but I thought it was because she slipped and drank some water. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she saw a bug in the water. Turned out just to be some leaves/grass. This fear of bugs has really started to affect our lifestyle and what we are able to do. If you find any solutions, let me know. Thanks!

My daughter started that at age three and although she is still squeemish about bugs, she does not flip out anymore. I finally had to put my foot down and tell her to chill out, and screaming like that was not OK. Something that helped was learning about the bugs, how and what they eat and what they do for us. Go bug by bug each week and really dive into it. She's young but seeing pictures in books and maybe catching one in a container and watching it through the container will help her.
Don't expect her to want to hold every bug that crosses her path, but she should (hopefully) calm down about them.
Good luck!

My 11 yr old daughter is still afraid of bugs! She doesn't even like the little ants to be close to her. Lady bugs are finally becoming ok, my 2 yr old plays with them and I think that's helped her a little bit. I don't know if there's anything you can really do to help them overcome the fear, they may just have to outgrow it. For now just give her the reassurance that bugs are okay and they won't hurt her.
V.

Well, when I was about her age I walked into a field next to our house and was "attacked" by grasshoppers. I've been afraid of bugs ever since. I've gotten better as an adult but as a kid I was petrified of them. But I always loved ladybugs though and would let them walk on my hand and the fuzzy caterpillars. Just be patient with her and she should grow out of it quicker than I did unless she had a bad experience with bugs and that's what triggered it.

My middle child is seven now and still frightened of some bugs. She was terribly frightened of all bugs from a very early age. What worked to alleviate some of her fears though was buying assorted plastic toy bugs, finding stuffed animals that were bugs, reading stories ( both fiction and some non fiction informative books) about bugs and even...and I know this sounds strange the disney movie Bugs Life. Although she may be frightened of the mean grasshoppers in Bugs Life so maybe avoid that at her age! They have some very neat science experiment type things you can get now that allow you to raise lady bugs or butterflys and then release them. I think it helps when you show your child that you are not afraid of them and when they are upset to remain calm. I tyr to rationalize as much as possible and be honest, like explaining that a ladybug or a fly can't hurt you but sometimes bees will sting. Good luck, no promises...children are individuals, and like I said my daughter still is afraid of bugs, just not as bad as she had been.

SAHM of an adorable one year old son, an endlessly creative seven year old daughter, and a never ceases to amaze me twelve and a half year old son!

I have four daughters and my last one when she was about that age when she started freaking out because of flys. My only suggestion is that you stay calm and teach her the Shoo Fly Don't Bother me song. That's what we did and it at least kept her distracted until I could get it out. Wave arms and sing. Hope that helps!

One of the first things you probably need to do is try to find out the best you can, where the fear came from. I know that might be hard with the language barrier at three, but if you can't resolve the root of the fear, you won't be able to resolve the fear itself totally.
And it could be something totally different than the bug itself. I know that may not be much help, but I hope it is a start. Try talking to her with picture books, that way she is not feeling them on her physically at least from you.
Good luck and if I can think of anything else I will write back.

L.

maybe get an aquarium and put different kinds of bugs in it , so she can see them , but they can not get to her , and put pretty things in there , to make them look neat , and let her get used to them on her own, but thats ok , im still very affraid of wasps, bees, and snakes, and spiders, good luck

I have found out reading books to childre nabout bugs helps. Where I live we have a Ruge center that has free programs on outside life. They have it adapated to children to respect outside life and how helpful they can be.Hope this helps.
J.

Relax, yours is not the only one who reacts this way. At this age they are just starting to really understand the world around them is not all good. My daughter went through the same thing and grew out of it within a year. If she gets really upset about a bug just reasure her that it won't hurt her if she leaves it alone.

I read the responses with interest because I am going through the same thing with my 4 year old son AND I am a Biology teacher!

I gave him a little bug catcher/magnifier. We have looked for rolly pollies, lightning bugs, and ants. He is getting better with the crawling bugs. I spend time explaining to him how the bugs are helpful (pollinating flowers, spiders eat many flying bugs, etc) and sometimes I make up some of their names and jobs. :)

One time he saw a flying bug and asked what it was...I had no idea where it was or what it was doing so I called it a rainbow sugar snap. That just changed his whole perspective and we could talk about how 99% of the bugs are not going to even bother him, and that they are just as scared of him. Now, I don't advocate lying to children, but just making up the sweet name completely changed his thought and made him more reasonable.

The screams have not completely stopped, but they are calming faster and are less frequent. As difficult as it is, dealing with their fears means facing their fears. That is a great life lesson for the future anyway. I am going to take the bug 'o week idea for the rest of the summer. (It might be 2-3 bugs per week!) Good luck.

E.,

I'm sorry, I laughed when I read that, the picture in my mind, it could be a movie. Although, I understand it is a true fear she has created in her mind. I'm sure the other moms will say for you not to react to her reaction, to always be calm and in control of yourself. Let her see other kids looking at bugs and touching them without pointing it out, just let her observe it. The car thing, acknowledge her fear, be calm get the fly out and tell the fly goodbye and have a good day. Give the bug a personality, say, "oh, mrs. Ladybug, you look so pretty today, I hope you visit some cool gardens and help the veg. grow!" Be like a Mrs. Frizzle, plus she will learn about bugs, knowledge is power!
Good luck and keep being the good mom you are

DE

My 3 year old son has a hissy fit lately when a fly is in the car. So I know what you are going through. I hoping it is just a phase. I am trying to be patient and tell him that the fly cannot hurt him and stopping and opening the door to let it fly away. If I can get it out, he calms down. Good Luck! If I come up with any solution, I'll let you know.

You may want to try desensitizing her. Read books about insects, fiction and non fiction, have toy insects around. If you have a museum of natural history around, they often have displays of insects or maybe you could find someone who collects them. ( I have issues with killing things for display, but in this case it may be helpful) There are pajamas with insects on them, etc. Fireflies are out now and if you can land one on yourself and be interested in it, maybe your daughter will too. Watch ants at work. Spiders aren't insects, but watch a web together, from a distance. Hopefully, eventually, the real things won't freak her out as much,

Remember, to her, her fears are very real, don't try to dismiss them.

my 3 year old did the exact same thing! we were driving and a wasp flew into the window and she and her sister screamed at the top of their lungs, we almost had an accident. she does this with flys also. I am also looking for advice. I am glad to know I am not the only one. I myself have a bug fear so I am sure that is where they learned the behavior. It is difficult for me because I have to tell them they will not hurt them and to stay calm, yet I need to tell that to myself before I can help my children. I will be checking on the advice.

My daughter went through that same thing last year. I would take her outside and she would scream about bugs and never move and inch. Sometimes I would ignore it and would go in the backyard. Then I went to check on her she would be in the exact same spot whimpering 15 minutes later. Sometimes I would walk away again and come back 15 minutes later and there she was, where I left her a half an hour ago, sniffing, but wouldn't move. My doctor told me not to make a big deal out of it and maybe educate her (only when she was willing to look at books or talk about it). It will fade away. I remember being REALLY CONCERNED about it. But it does go away. Just don't feed into it and maybe don't punish either, just talk about it now and then.

This year, she is the opposite (she's over 3½ now) and she thinks all bugs are cute. We went to the Zoo yesterday and she kept asking to see the bugs. She had a great time in the bug place. She loves to follow the ants in the driveway and either drown them with water or put them in her Bug Vaccum (it WAS her brother's bug vaccum) and she loves to watch them in there. Every bug she see's is apparently "So Cute!". Go figure! Good luck - this too - Shall Pass.

My daughter when though this when she was but 18 months old, she's 6 now. She did grow out of the worst of the fear but is better. We did like you and just tried to re-assure her that the flys and ladybugs would not hurt her. She was so bad that she wouldn't eat Kiwi because she thought the seeds were bugs. She'd look at the kiwi and scream "bugs". But at 6 she is still some what afaid of bugs (but then again so am I). What has helped her the most is that she is at a day camp this year and they are outside all day. With bugs around her all day long she has learned that most are harmless and even killed one in the car the other day. After she screamed at the top of her lungs and almost made me run off the road. Just be patient and she will be better with time.