19 months with a phobia. Any experiences?

[JumpingIn]

Zach has been scared of balloons since his first birthday and possibly before then. We had some helium ones in the house he used to love, but then they deflated gradually and I think that worried him.

Over the following months he would freak out whenever there were any balloons. We had to leave parties.

Then Christmas came. These giant inflatable Santas came to town. Scared again.

Now it's not only balloons but anything inflatable. Today at the pool he was so fascinated by a little boy's beach ball I asked if he could give it to my boy for a minute. Zach was petrified. He ran to the other side of the pool and cried and wouldn't go back in. Between his sobs he was crying 'bal, bal, no bal!'

He's the same way with arm bands and inflatable floats now too. Just anything inflatable.

I'm just hoping this isn't too uncommon an experience and he'll grow out of it

 

[Demotivated]

Thought would bump this up.

For us, Mannequins in shops or elsewhere are a big phobia, we we can live with it..
Kids can get scared of any thing due to any reason.. Try and play more with balls or start with soap bubbles (comparing them to balloons)..

My boy had a phobia of anything being scribbled on his hands..colors, pens..anything..we showed him, sat with him, scribbled on our hands..eventually he warmed upto the idea.. so keep trying..

 

[k4th]

What about uninflated balloons? Or arm bands etc. I just wonder if that might desensitise him? Then you could try blowing it up a little if/when he doesn't mind them like that?

In all honesty though - I go to loads of parties with dd (5 years) & loads of parents comment about how their kids used to hate balloons. I think it's a pretty normal phobia for kids

 

[jadza]

I dont like.balloons either so I'm with him there haha nah try and desensitized him with them. Play with non blown up balloons, try getting to play a balloon popping game on a phone or device of some kind. Cause its super harmless and you can turn the sound off then slowly increase it. He needs to feel in more control around the balloons. My stepson has a major fear of water and it's taken ages of exposing him to water to overcome it.