slide fears???

[dmills]

We just built a tree house, swing set, slide area for our 2.5 year old ds.  He was so excited and the child has never had any fears.  Well, he went down the slide and it was super fast and then he fell down it.   Anyway, he is terrified of all slides now.  Will this pass?  I have tried to even go down with him at the park and he refuses?  Should I just leave it alone or can I help him overcome this fear?

[Erin M]

I would just validate his feelings -- "Oh, you're scared of the slide.   You fell going down the slide and you're worried it might happen again?  Can Mommy help you go down the slide?"  If he says no, just let it go and play with something else, if he shows interest in it be there to help, but let him change his mind if he wants to.  I'm sure it will pass sooner or later -- you could always invite kids of a similar age over to play on the slide and I'm sure he'll be interested when he sees others enjoying it. 

[Lana]

Totally agree with pp .  Two years ago we put up a swing set with an attached slide and the same thing happened with Ewan, he was then totally terrified of the slide and wouldnt go anywhere near it.  We just didnt push and validated his feelings.  Then last year he tried it while hanging on to our hands and by the end of the summer was going down on his own.  Also some friends of ours gave us a small slide that was meant more for B but Ewan did use it so I think that eased the way for us with the big slide

HTH