Phobia

When JJ was still very young, she was scared of loud noises. She was not agreeable with my naturally loud voice. In fact I've been having this problem of controlling the loudness of my voice, especially when I'm excited about the topic of my conversation.

When JJ was still a baby, she'd suddenly cry out for no apparent reason whenever I'm around. It took me quite a while to realise that I was the main reason of those sudden cries! Later, when she was a little older, I gradually realised her fear of loud noises. She'd suddenly become scared and closed her ears when we sang her the "Happy Birthday" song during her birthday party. And there was once when I brought her to a movie. When the show started, she suddenly burst out crying and it took such a long time to calm her down.

In the end I decided to research on the problem. I surfed the net and found out that JJ has a condition known as phonophobia, i.e. a fear of loud sounds. After that I've never brought JJ to the movies. I decided to wait until she's older. In the meantime, I trained her to fight her fears. While watching her favourite cartoon movies at home, I'd increased the volume very, very gradually. And so, she gradually became accustomed with the loud sounds from the TV.

A few years had elapsed since the last time we brought her to the movies. Yesterday, Mia and I decided that perhaps it's time to give JJ another shot at the cinema. She's after all fast approaching 6 years old now. And she has had plenty of trainings watching cartoons with big volumes at home.

Of all the movies, we decided to make a big entrance with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian yesterday afternoon. All the way to the cinema, I was fairly worried. Well, we finally found ourselves in the cinema. Then the lights dimmed and suddenly the music started. I turned to look at JJ. She was still doing fine. Then some advertisements. JJ was still doing absolutely fine. Then the movie started...

And of all the opening scenes, it was about a woman going through childbirth labour. Of course it was not actually shown where the baby came from. But the way the lady shouted out in pain was enough to leave an impression on JJ. But I am proud to say that JJ was strong enough. She did not cry. In fact, she was fully concentrating...

And so, we continued peacefully till the movie ended.

Then last night JJ was watching TV with me while Mia was having a shower. Suddenly JJ surprised me with a question, "Dad," she said, "do I have to go through that much pain when I egg out a baby?"

"How do you mean, 'that much pain', J?" I asked her back.

"Like that lady in the movie this afternoon?"

"Yeah," I said, "I suppose so, J. Mommy went through the same thing with you too."

"Oh! dad, I don't want to grow up! I don't want to go through the pain like that!"

And so, I rushed back to the internet. This is what I have found: tokophobia.

So here we go again. Parenting is so much fun, you know; you get to learn a lot of stuff!