Shadows

Ryan is at an age where his imagination is really developing. I'm noticing it when he plays, and he makes up little voices and stories for his cars. It's really cute to watch. Unfortunately, he is also imagining scary things, like monsters, shadows, and scary sounds.

 

He starts talking about them every night as soon as he gets in bed. He "hears" sounds and wants me to turn the lights on so he can see what the shadows really are. He tells me there are monsters in his room. At first I thought he was just trying to get out of going to bed, but I'm realizing he is actually a little bit frightened. (Although he may be using it as a stalling technique).

 

I'm not sure what to do about this. I've tried explaining to him that monsters aren't real (where did he even hear this word? I've never said it to him), and that shadows can't hurt him. But they still seem to bother him. And it's even becoming an issue during the day. Ryan gets scared sometimes when I leave the room. He accuses me of "leaving him all alone" and tells me something is scary in the room. So now he's my little shadow during the day.