Daily Poll #43

[IhateClowns]

Thanks for playing along.

 

[Lilylovex64]

The grudge - should have never watched that movie.

 

[BrokenRomantic]

I chose other. I'd rather not discuss it, though.

 

[Eclectic2012]

I chose other, although "all of the above" may be more appropriate; none of which I would consider phobia forming....

 

[may_I_please]

Other ..a tree coming through the window to eat me

It was a very real night terror I had that I vividly remembered throughout my childhood.. Particularly when something tapped on the window in the dark

*shudders*

Apart from the tree I was quite a confident kid

(Oh you may want to check out night terrors, they hit a lot of kids around the age of pre-school onwards and can be bloody scary for the parent too)

 

[may_I_please]

I never feared getting spanked ... spanking is something altogether different

My mother knocked me out (accidentally) once, she used to lose her rag and come at you like a steamroller so I backed away and tripped ...after that ..pfft

 

[Trixareforkids]

I was always pretty fearless, but I was a hella picky eater. So I want with gross food.

 

[sultan_sd]

Spankings were never a good thing growing up.

 

[janeyl]

When my parents fought, which was a lot, my mother used to threaten that when she was 40, she would leave us all and we'd never know where she went...as a small child, growing up with that fear was terrifying at times...she didn't leave and as I got older, I understood the motives behind it but I've found it hard to forgive her for it...

 

[greeneyedvirgin]

I voted mean older kids.

I was bullied all the way through school but it was never by kids older than me, they were always the same age. In grade/middle school it was the same girl and then when I moved away, I was singled out by a bully in my new high school. So my childhood pretty much sucked more than it already did with my family situation the way that it was.

 

[Bitesback]

Other was my choice... The downside to having vivid dreams is that many are nightmares. As a small child, I had plenty. Often involving menacing people or things. I learnt to deal with them better, dark though they tended to be, as I grew up, mostly replaced by ones about not having completed my homework, submitted an essay...

 

[suckonsimon]

Great one, Clowns, and it's touching to see the range of stuff we have grown up with, survived, and hopefully been able to build on with some kind of resolution. I reckon that got mostly sorted for me by time I reached 45 ...

But I voted other for a really 'vivid' fear:

We lived very close to fields used for beef herd grazing and once when I was I guess 8 I was walking alone along a farm track edged on both sides by broken hedge. Suddenly the entire herd was stampeding out of one field across the track into the other field while i froze up against this sycamore sapling which was thinner than I was, watching these beasts thunder past me both sides. Typing this now I'm trembling! After that, for years, the nightmares, and also the ridiculous degree of fear of cows even from across a sturdy fence.

It was my daughter, when she was 12, who coaxed me to join her in stroking the curly face of a young bullock which had come to a fence near a holiday cottage where we were staying - it was my daughter who laid that ghost to rest for me. Since then I've cycled through a herd of Highland Cattle with young, so I think I'm sorted!

Can't resist a pic I took of highland cattle:

 

[poppadog]

Other- losing my parents either through death or them splitting up.

No basis, just one of those irrational things that kids imagine.

I do remember going through a period where I thought something lived down the toilet and would come out if the bathroom light was switched on while you were sitting there.

So, as you can see I have always been a well balanced individual!

 

[availableslave2u]

other ~ clowns. they terrified me. i had these three clown paintings in my room and i swear the eyes were following me.

the fear of being spanked? um, not exactly

 

[elli1]

i voted "the dark". but only "as a little kid growing up", yes yes!

 

[beachbaby179]

Other. I had an Ozzie and Harriet childhood and my siblings are my bff's. So I was protected from most of that stuff.

My biggest fear was that the kids in my class would find out how old I was. I was always much younger. So I suppose that could've been mean older kids but...whatever.

 

[IhateClowns]

Mine was the dark. I had this "game" in my own head. I had to turn off the light and be in bed with everything completely under the covers within 10 seconds or something would snatch me away. I think that is why to this day I sleep with a pillow over my head. I sleep with my head as a pillow sandwich. I have trouble sleeping with just one pillow.

 

[37_ttej]

I was a goodie-two-shoes at school and dreaded getting in trouble for anything.
I did get sent to the Principal's office once and I was mortified.
I wasn't afraid of him so much as the shame of doing something wrong.
Mostly I was disgustingly good as a boy.

 

[Leigh81]

The closest thing to fear as a child was living up to my parents expectations.

L

 

[suckonsimon]

Mine was the dark. I had this "game" in my own head. I had to turn off the light and be in bed with everything completely under the covers within 10 seconds or something would snatch me away. I think that is why to this day I sleep with a pillow over my head. I sleep with my head as a pillow sandwich. I have trouble sleeping with just one pillow.

I trust that sometimes, Clowns, the 'top pillows' are soft, rounded, consoling and indicative of deep and satisfied breathing beside you ...

 

[IhateClowns]

I trust that sometimes, Clowns, the 'top pillows' are soft, rounded, consoling and indicative of deep and satisfied breathing beside you ...

You just might be on to something

 

[Mebtaz2000]

I chose other, like many of you. My biggest fear was the fear of letting my dad down. Took me years to realize that fear was in my head and his love was unconditional. I think it took becoming a dad to have that fear removed. Fear is a useful tool though. Keeps us sharp and ready to face challenges. Anyone without fear is either a liar or too stupid to know better. Courage is looking fear in the eye and moving on.

I have always loved this mantra from the book Dune:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

 

[Twlightdreamer]

It's weird looking back at what I was frightened of as a kid. I was never afraid of the dark. Sheesh, .... I had a lot. Lets see; house fire and being trapped in my room, enclosed spaces (my brother locked me in an old toy chest), and being in trouble.

 

[missgreekgeek]

I was, and still am afraid of the dark.
I cannot go into a dark room. There has to be some light- TV/light switch.
I hate walking alone at night.

 

[mouthybrunette]

Other - clowns and fire.

I'm in the Poltergeist/It generation. Clowns still freak me out.

As a kid, I was always afraid the house would catch on fire. There was a time when I kept a suitcase packed just in case I had to grab it and go.