If he even sees it, he starts screaming. Laura Davis and Janis Keyser Laura Davis and Janis Keyser are nationally known authors, lecturers and workshop leaders. A Sourcebook of Your son is experiencing a normal toddler fear. Babies often startle to loud sounds instinctually and your son probably has some of this leftover fear of loud noises. At 18 months, he is beginning to understand that he is pretty small in the world and that there are many things he doesn t understand and can t predict.
Toddlers are often afraid of sirens, barking dogs, vacuum cleaners and thunder.
An amazing thing about young children s fears is that they are often fascinated by the very things they are afraid of. Your son might talk about vacuum cleaners all the time or want to go see it, even though he is scared. Children are usually more able to cope with their fears if they can learn to predict when the scary thing will happen. Since your son is afraid of the vacuum cleaner, there are several things you can do to help him deal with his fearful feelings. Let him explore the vacuum cleaner when it is not on.