I took the boy and his fellow Cub Scouts out on a hike for their final den meeting last night. We went to checkout a couple of historical landmarks here in the area. Well, one historical landmark and one quirk-of-nature landmark. That’s been one of the nice surprises regarding Scouting- being forced to do some thing we might otherwise not have bothered with.
The hike itself was probably a couple mile in total. It wasn’t the easiest hike because the trail was rocky and consisted of descending into a valley and then climbing the other side to get to our final destination. We got pictures of the kids along the way and everyone had a good time generally.
But the boy got a little more than he bargained for, courtesy one of his den mates.
It started on the hike back, I was leading but I could hear the kids talking behind me. One of the kids was being loud and when asked about why, he bellicosely stated that it was to keep mountain lions away. Apparently, they’re afraid of loud noises- who knew it was that easy?
The boy became fixated on the subject of mountain lions. Are there really mountain lions? How big are they? Are they really lions? Are they really afraid of loud noises? Are they really in the woods we were hiking through? Do they attack people? Were mountain lions watching us right then?
My answers were: yes; bigger than a dog, smaller than a lion; no, but they’re a big cat; yes; maybe; no; no. Basically, I tried to answer them truthfully but in a fashion so as not to alarm him. When he gets fixated on stuff like this, the less nuance the better. In fact, that’s probably a general rule for kids- nuance is lost on them.
Unfortunately, the damage was still done. By the time we got him to bed that night, he’d decided he didn’t want to participate in the Spring Campout for our Pack because of the mountain lions. At that point, I wished I’d stuffed a wad of moss in the other kid’s mouth.
This kind of Phantom Fear happens regularly, and I -assume- know that other kids have it as well. I wouldn’t include his fear of thunderstorms as one: they are real enough. But every now and again, something captures a child’s imagination. Something that they can’t quite comprehend just how real it is and as a result they fear it because it’s dangerous in a specific sense. The lass had something similar with large trucks, and a couple of days ago while watching some large pines swaying in the wind. “Daddy, I don’t like the wind doing that to the trees.” she whimpered.
Phantom Fears come seemingly come out of nowhere. How long they stick varies from case to case. There is little to no warning that a Phantom Fear has developed. Most importantly, a Phantom Fear involves something which is so exceedingly unlikely to occur that an adult hardly considers it. For the child; however, a Phantom Fear becomes an almost certainty. It is completely irrational. As a result, the child works to avoid it all cost.