Fear of Fire

Feeling afraid of fire is not necessarily a bad thing, but somehow this came about quite significantly for Kathryn. It all elapsed over 2 particular events-- First, the unfortunately lacking memory of her mommy during a viewing of the Bambi movie (it's been 20+ years-- how was I supposed to remember a forest fire?), and the second was a children's book we received as a gift. The book was a tragic love tale between a family and a beloved dog. The family adopted the orphan dog, and the dog gave his life one night rescuing the family from a fire in their home. (In retrospect, I question whether this truly was appropriate for 3 year olds as the story claimed!) At first K was fascinated with it, but the more that she processed the story she grew more and more fearful until we finally gave the story away to some friends.

Over many months since these two unfortunate events, I have tried in vain to quell her fears in a healthy way. She has a video called "Camp Harmony" that came in the mail weeks ago, and she refuses to watch it because there is a camp fire on the cover. What to do? A friend told me that a local fire station it open for children on Saturdays, and while daddy was away, I decided we should check it out.

At first it seemed like a big bomb. Kathryn wouldn't walk NEAR the fire truck. But after a little more time and little coaxing, we had a good time. For a moment, it even seemed that she was going to agree to ride the hook and ladder truck (I don't know my technical fire truck terms, but you know, the part where they raise it up really high and spray the water out.) We even got the safety harnesses on, but freaked out at the last minute. That's OK. We made big progress.

The mark of success came for me when she said as we were leaving, "Mom, I want to be a firelady when I grow up. Or maybe I'll be a penguin."

Here are some fun pics:














We started with the ambulance. It seemed safer.


















They had these great uniforms for kids to try on!



















Ellie wasn't so interested in the hat














K climbed aboard the truck!















Ellie thought the truck was pretty cool!



















See the ladder? K is asking daddy to take her back next weekend to ride it!