Robbers and Ladders

A couple of nights ago, my ten year-old daughter woke to a loud sound in the night. She became convinced the sound was made by an aluminum ladder we keep in the garage falling to the ground. This concerned her tremendously as the ladder had been leaning up against the door from the garage to the backyard. She was sure there was a robber coming to get us. She says she even heard the door open and close and various movements through the house.

So, she snuck out of her bed and through the house to the door to the garage. She slowly opened it and peered into the garage. The laundry room light was on so she could see shadows all over the place. She says she saw a shadow growing and getting closer. She threw shut the door, locked it and ran back to bed terrified.

Awhile later, she mustered up enough courage to knock on mine and my husbands bedroom door. This was not a little timid knock. Noooo..this was a loud, banging knock that woke all but one of the other children. My husband and I hurried to the door to my daughter exclaiming, "I think there's a robber in the HOUSE!!" The look on her face was pure terror.

We quickly checked the house. We checked the garage. There was nothing out of place. There were no robbers in the house or outside the house. The ladder was still firmly leaning up against the door. We showed the ladder to daughter and she began to hypothesize how the robber might have gotten the ladder back up. We tried to convince her she had heard something outside and her imagination made it into the robber but she was not to be persuaded.

The next day, she and I talked through it all again. Again, she was not to be convinced that she imagined most of it. Now a couple days past, she concedes that MAYBE it was a car door slamming outside that woke her. Last night, she still insisted on being the one to lock up the house. We, of course, allowed this as it helped her feel safer. She also checked all of the doors in the morning.

The mind is a powerful thing and fear is a powerful emotion. I wonder what she could accomplish if she could harness the energy flowing into her over all this for more positive things. I think the same thing of myself when I get bogged down by anxiety, so overwhelmed that it feels like I am stuck with superglue to the floor. So much turmoil inside with so little action on the outside. I hope she and I both figure it out soon.