Could I have traumatized him? :(

amother

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 11:49 am

The most bizarre and scary thing happened to me this morn. I went to the kitchen to get something and a squirrel jumped through the window and landed right near the counter where I was!
We obviously forgot to close the window last night. I started SCREAMING, grabbed my son and locked us in my room. I couldn't stop shaking. Thank G-D my dh came home from shul (didn't have my phone and wasn't about to step foot out of my door to go get it) about 15 minutes later. I really tried staying calm for my son but I was shaking and screaming some of the time and he started crying too. My dh got the squirrel to go back out the window but I'm still a little freaked out. I just really hope I didn't traumatize my son and if I did I hope he gets over it. Sad

Anyone ever scream like that or get all shaken up in front of your kids? I feel so bad.

wif

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 12:14 pm

Yeah. I had a very similiar experience, but I think that I was more traumatized than my daughter. What came through my door was not a furry little animal, it was a 200 pound male. With dead blue eyes and dirty fingernails. On shabbas morning, while my husband was in shul, and I was cutting a salad in the kitchen. One baby was across the room in a highchair, the other a seven month-old fetus in my womb. He said "How are you?" I said, "Get out of my house, please. I am holding a very sharp knife." (it came out more like dshfdzkjnvxcjhvjdh, but that's what I MEANT.)

The knife was a cutco, (sp?) and he did not look afraid at the prospect of being sliced in neat and perfect proportions. Maybe it's because the hand holding the knife was not, in fact, holding it. The knife was safely on the counter, a foot away from both of us. He pushed me, and took a step towards it. My mind slowed down, and I started thinking in clear, cold precision. That's what happens to be in these kind of situations. (Yes, I've had more than one. I am a magnet.) I realized, I am too far away from the door to grab my daughter and run out of it. And even if I reached the knife first, I don't think that it would be too much of a stretch to figure that he could grab it out of my hands in a second.

So I did the only logical thing. I opened the front door, which is right in front of the kitchen (I live in an apartment) and screamed at the top of my lungs into the hallway. The guy started, grabbed the bucket of change that I keep near the door for collectors, and ran out the door. Laughing. Yeah. For real.

My daughter said, "Who dat? Man?" And I pulled her out of the highchair and held her and cried.

She got mad because she was in the middle of eating her yogurt.

Actually, upon reading this story over, it is kind of different than the squirrel one.

wif

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 12:42 pm

drumjj wrote:

wif I had that aswell, its really traumatizing and scary bh with me I was on the phone and the guy pulled the door off the hinges, my daughter was awake upstairs and istarted screaming and he took my bag and ran away. I was very scared for a long time after that. it sort of puts the squirrel in perspective doesnt it.

Yeah. Not to put down OP's trauma, but also? I like squirrels.

greenfire

Wed, Jun 17 2009, 12:49 pm

woah - more frightening for it to be a person invasion ...

I don't scream much for animals though ... just evict them ...

I would be worried you son will now be scared every time he sees a squirrel ... maybe bring him to the park to feed the squirrels to counteract the same ... they like leftover challah and honey nut clusters ...

sneakermom

Thu, Jun 18 2009, 12:47 am

You make me laugh with how you freak out, because that is exactly what I do. I never had a squirrel story but I think a large bee coming into the house might do that to me.

About the trauma aspect you didn't mention how old your son is.

I once had an incident in which a neighbor in my building sort of lost his mind and came pounding into my apartment. He was yelling like a madman, pounding on my walls and literally could not be calmed down. My two year old was traumatized. She is really terrified if somebody knocks really hard on the door and this is a year later. Finally my husband told her that if that guy comes back he will beat him up and that sort of gave her relief. She also enjoys making pictures of him and cutting him up. And come to think of it I had her repeat the story to me a few times and reflected how she felt when it happened.