When my son was 6 months old (now 12 months) he use to, as I saw it, fear the vacuum cleaner. To work through this I used a method known as desensitization, whereby, I left the vacuum out for him to approach and play with when he was ready to get close to it. Both with and without me. I had amazing success with this technique, he no longer feared the vacuum on or off. However, over time his behaviour changed, to where he loves the vacuum so much that when you turn it off it brings on tears?????? Even sending the vacuum to bed brings about tears. Unfortunately, his ability to control his emotions regarding the vacuum cleaner have worsened and I am at a loss of what to do.
Now when I turn the vacuum off he gets teary as before but continues to cry when it is switched back on (which I have never done to appease his tears) and does not settle for 10 - 20 minutes after taking him away from the vacuum after it has been put away. I have also tried leaving him near it to see if he would self settle, without success. The simple answer is not to turn it off at all, but I am 8 months pregnant and can not do the whole house in one go, and this would not solve the problem anyhow. In addition to all of this, I also try to do little if any physical comforting at all during his teary times as this would just reinforce his behaviour. I just speak confidently to him and tell him that it is ok and that he should come around the house with us. But he stops following at this point and just sits and cries, and cries, and cries.
This behaviour has totally baffled me and I am beginning to fear that I have failed in some way to emotionally equip my child for some situations.
If anyone has heard of anything like this before or has any ideas on what I could possibly do please post your idea regardless of if it sounds silly or unhelpful. At this point any idea is a good idea... Oh and if you need more info regarding his behaviour or mine let me know...
Danielle
He's obviously upset and maybe a bit confused.