Frankly, children sometimes react with the same horror to puppies.
Should we legitimize that fear, too?
Of course.
Why should a young child’s emotions be invalidated?
Make a big deal over it, no. But force the child to encounter something he is not ready to encounter, and which he doesn’t need to encounter? That’s destructive.
There are some things in which a child should be allowed to develop at his own pace and according to his own personality. Just because his parents like the macabre doesn’t mean he will, especially not at a young age when he hasn’t even figured out what death really is.
Further, I hope you have some glimmer of understanding that there is a difference between a 4-year-old being terrified of a bloody ghost/ghoul/monster that is jumping out of the darkness, shreiking blooding murder while wielding a bloody sickle in a threatening way-—your average display at the local Halloween party store-— and a child being apprehensive about a puppy.
If you don’t, I hope you don’t have children.
Just like pain can be an indicator that something is wrong with the body, fear or uneasiness can be an indicator that something is wrong FOR the mind or heart, at least for that person at that time in their life.
Where does an adult get off telling a child that his uneasiness about something that he doesn’t need to deal with anyway is illegitimate?
Why would you force a child who is frightened to be around monsters and ghouls and other stupid stuff?
The more I think about your inane and immature comment, the madder I get, and the more I realize my opinion of the parents I saw doing this was SPOT ON.
There are some instinctual fears that people have because they are protective. This is especially true for children.