Oh, The Horror! (and books on it.)

Yes, the kid thing is interesting.

I have my office filled with many a pitter patter of little feet of anxious little kiddies who love, but cannot handle, the likes of Buffy etc. Heaven knows, reality is enough to frighten the average child!

I suspect some fear of the dark is hard-wired in.

Reality is enough to frighten a child, I think that's why they don't usually read the newspapers. (I'm only slightly kidding.)

I shudder to think of the tragedies that go through your office, D. There are things I don't even WANT to know about.

I was thinking about it though and Alice in Wonderland was also awful to me. I didn't like the Queen of Hearts at all and I hated the thought of falling through a rabbit hole, eating mushrooms (at least then!) and using birds for croquet mallets. Just a terrorized child, I was.

Hiya Piffka ~ I agree with you completely. My son happens to be the reason I overcame (at least when he's around) my fear of the dark. Because he was afraid of the dark, I had to be brave for him. I've beaten up so many imaginary monsters in his room.....I wear my Mom Badge very proudly.

Mind you, I find it far easier to be brave if:

a. Somebody else is scareder than I am!
b. I am protecting someone smaller and weaker than myself.

My reasoning exactly, ma'am.

What a good thought. I wonder if that's part of that Tibetan rule about not frightening children - being brave for a youngster? It would be a nice cultural rule. On the other hand, Tibetans have terribly frightening gods. They must not tell the children about them.

I do think you should be careful about not scaring children - I was an overimaginative child who had to dive into bed because of things that might 'get me'! somehow the blankets up over my head were some sort of protection !!!

My eldest daughter had nightmares and fears at bedtime until i had my second daughter and she was moved intothe same bedroom - they stopped totally. I was never sure if she thought the witches and monsters would go for the baby or whether the snuffling and grunting coming from the cot reassured her that she wasn't alone. Whatever, it worked!

I think so, too, and that once a child develops the knowledge of autonomy they learn to modify the fear by doing something about it. Before my daughter goes to bed, she closes open doors and puts away things that might look strange in the dark. At about her age (9) I started fighting with the monsters in my dreams, and winning, so the monsters wouldn't come back into my dreams.

I have to admit though that I still fight off the instinct to jump into bed

Some demons just never go away, and like Noddy, I don't read those books because they truly scare me. I was scared to be alone in the house for a month after I saw Silence of the Lambs and couldn't get through The Shining , was so terrified. So I stick to mysteries for light reading, and don't even try to go to scary movies.

Andrew Vachss writes excellent dark mysteries. His hero combats the crud who sexually molest children.

Usually I'm one for mercy seasoning justice, but I like the way P.I. Burke applies implacable, painful punishment for the offenders.

I'll have to try some Andrew Vachss mysteries. So far, ruth Rendell is my favorite dark mystery writer.

I like Vachs.
As for Horror, nothing beats Poppy Z. Brite, or Kaitlyn Kiernan.

Finished my Greg Isles book (Sleep No More) ~ a touch on the strange side, but I couldn't put the darn thing down.

I'm about halfway through 'Black House'.....and I think it might have something to do with the nightmares I've been having the last few nights.

Haven't heard of Vachss.....will have to check it out.....thanks for the recommendation, Noddy!