Two years ago today, when DGD Madelynn was in pre-k, the owner of her school, Mr. Tim, put green food coloring in the toilets, messed up some of the classrooms, and put green footprints on the floor. He told the kids that they had a leprechaun in the school. All of the kids thought it was funny except Maddie...to this day she is still scared of leprechauns and St. Patricks day!!!! She would not go to the bathroom by herself for a very long time. She is 6.

Kids are affected by strange things. When my son was 2, he heard the lion at the zoo really roaring. It had its mouth wide open and was roaring so loud I couldn't believe it. For ages and ages after that every time when went outside we had to promise there were no "daddy lions". He is now 23 and we still tease him about it on occaision.

Clowns scared the heck out of one son, spiders another son, and granddaughter is scared of any loud noise, has been since a little baby. She is 8 and won"t even play with a balloon because it might pop. And she isnt some little namby pamby either, very active and tomboyish.

I was always afraid of balloons... my mom took my to the doctor to get tubes put in my ears and the doctor blew up a glove and started waving it at me... I was fine until then, started climbing up my mom and screeming...
I think every child has something they are afraid of, and sometimes it is because of stupid jokes or pranks. Your poor little grandaughter.. I feel for her.

Oh bless her heart! Hopefully, she will outgrow it soon.

We had a cat toy my granddaughter was scared of when she was little. It was ball wrapped with jute and it had a rattle thing inside of it. She really hated that thing.

Took my 5 yr old son to see The Hamburgler (do they still have him at McDonald's?) and Ronald McDonald. He did just fine seeing Ronald, but turned around, saw The Hamburgler, the Hamburgler went boogaboogabooga and that did it. My son screamed bloody murder (and boy, he had a LOUD voice) and I had to take him out of McD's.....he wouldn't eat at McDs for years!!! He's made up for it since....LOL

Your poor little granddaughter. Bless her little heart.
When my daughter was in 1st or 2nd grade she watched a documentary on volcanos...for months after she would wake up with nightmares of volcanos getting us! Even after the nightmares stopped she would ask at the strangest times, "We don't have volcanos in Pennsylvania, right?" The real kicker is...that same daughter, now 28 is now in grad school in...New Zealand....there are still live volcanos there...in fact, Auckland is located right in the bowl of a volcano. Go figure!

Poor kid. Maybe she will outgrow this fear.

My DD, at age 10, is still terrified of self-flushing toilets. When she was three we were on a road-trip, and I took her into the potty, got the pants down and was holding her up just a little off the seat.....WHOOOOSH!!

She screamed bloody murder,(you know how the acoustics are in those gas station toilets?!?), and I whisked her to the floor, dripping the whole way. I tried as quickly as possible to clean her, and myself, up, and get her all back together, while she is doing that little foot-stamping dance children do when they are terrified, screaming and crying with all her might.

I finally unlocked and opened the door, and the manager and assistant manager are standing there blocking my way, looking at me like they are trying to decide whether to call the cops on ME! I looked the manager square in the eye and said, "You need to get that toilet fixed, pronto!", and carried my poor little one blubbering out to the car.

Then DH, after having heard the entire tale, comments, "You didn't actually let her sit on the seat did you?". Arggghhh!!!