W is not keen on the dark, spiders, being upstairs on his own, or how the bathroom looks when the light is off and you walk past it.
A bit of tough love is needed.
W is marooned in the bathroom shouting that he won't make the 15 step walk to his bedroom unless I go to collect him. I'm stood by the door to his bedroom, shouting encouragement with such gems as :
"Take 5 steps and you'll be able to see me!"
"I'm right here darling"
"It's the same as the day only a bit darker!"
"There's nothing to be scared off, you can do it"
There's a scream and the bathroom door slams. My tough love weakens as I hear wracked sobs and I head to investigate.
"There's a huge spider!" he gasps through the tears.
"No, no, don't worry it's just your imagination. There isn't a ........ Oh."
At this point (note: I'm not a fan of spiders either) a massive, genuinely big, 12cm leg-span monster house spider legs it across the dark hallway. I dart for the light and the cat comes to help. I'm frantically trying to locate a cup while the cat helpfully bats the spider in my direction. I find myself in the bathroom, grabbing a beaker when the cat literally shoves the spider towards where W and I are standing.
W leaps on the bath side with a full-on scream of sheer panic. I pointlessly say "It's fine love, don't worry" as if he might believe me. I flap ineffectually at the spider with a book until the spider eventually realises that the cat is marginally less scary (annoying?) than the insane woman with a book and a cup and screaming child... and he heads back out to the hall.
Cup over spider, out of the window, job done. W took 10 minutes to calm down, all the while sobbing "I told you it was scary, there was a huge spider".
We may have trust issues, going forward.
