Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Boo!

My oldest son was easily scared when he was little. A lot of the things people thought would scare him did not but then the strangest things would make him cringe with fright.

For instance there were horror movies on late night television when the boys were small. We stayed up and watched them with glee. My son still likes them. The old Hammer films are his favorites.

His uncle drove a delivery truck for a beer distributor. Often the company had promotional displays for retail stores. One such display was the famous delivery wagon along with the team of horses that pulls it. It was impressive with the barrels of beer on the wagon.  It was probably 3 feet long in total. His uncle took one home with him and placed it so it could be seen by everyone.

For some reason my son was afraid of it. It was on display so it could be seen as you entered the house. My son would grab my leg and clutch it until we were inside the house and past the horses and wagon. Then he was fine.

My brother-in-law bedeviled my son at almost every turn. It was done as a loving thing and he meant no harm. It was what he did with all the kids including his own. My son just reacted differently. So at his uncle's house he never knew what to expect. He was appropriately scared all the time.

It was one of my son's favorite places to visit. I think he liked being frightened. Now that he is grown he tries his best to scare his nieces and nephews in the same way.

Once when my mother-in-law was visiting we were sitting on the front porch swing talking. My son was in the house where his uncle must have been aggravating him. My son burst out of the house and went to his grandmother. "Grandma will you please make your kid leave me alone?"

Naturally Grandma yelled at her son to "leave this kid alone!"

My son has always been interested in gadgets. We had some of the very first home computers and my son was the one who used them the most. Of course there were video game systems too. His brother and sister thought they were okay but he loved them.

My son researched what made them work and studied about what new technologies were coming soon. He learned to troubleshoot which is so handy when you are dealing with this kind of thing. He even began building his own computers using what he judged to be the best components. For little money he could have a top-of-the-line computer.

My son is the first to try a new electronic gadget. Cell phones, tablets, readers; all are things he researches intensely and then buys what he has decided to be the best. It works out well for me because I get his old one of whatever it is.

He even bought a Roomba. Roomba is a flat little robot type of thing. He has programmed it to vacuum the carpets while we sleep. We wake to clean floors. It works well and I highly recommend it.

When I think of him owning a robot it brings a smile to my face. When he was almost two years old Santa gave him a robot for Christmas.

It was a marvel. It was battery operated. It stood about 18 inches tall.

When you turned it on it would walk across the floor in a menacing manner because it was a warrior. At intervals it would stop, its chest would open, and a gun would pop out and noisily fire. Then the chest would close and the robot would advance some more.

My son was terrified. I tried to have him become more familiar with it by handling it while it was turned off. Nope. He wanted nothing whatsoever to do with that robot.

Even my little brother who was only 6 years old tried to cajole him into not being afraid. Nothing worked.

I am not sure what ever happened to that poor robot. Not much scares my son any more. He might even like the robot now.

15 comments:

  1. Shame there is nothing worse than being scared of something, I feel sorry for him. The Roomba Roomba though sounds like a small miracle, never heard of them and I am sure they are not available over here. Take care Diane

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    1. He was scared of everything. And if you ever get the chance to own a Roomba take it. I only vacuum maybe once a month for a deep cleaning of the carpet. I seldom have to sweep my kitchen floor.

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  2. I got a kick out of your son going directly to his grandmother to get his uncle in trouble!

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    1. My kids learned very early that Grandma was a good person to have on their side.

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  3. I used to be afraid of "horror" movies. My granddaughter scoffed. "They're just made up stuff, Grandma. Not real." I finally got it.

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    1. I am still afraid of horror movies and I know they are not real.

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  4. I remember I used to be scared of horror movies early on, and not being able to make to the bathroom without being accompanied. Now, not so much. Greetings to you!

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    1. Now think about having to use an outhouse instead of an indoor toilet. Coming across the occasional wild critter was not nearly as frightening as thinking about horror villains waiting in the shadows.

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  5. Fun post, Emma, and like you I also do not like horror films but have to admit that some of the old ones with Dracula and Frankenstein are quite campy now. I can recall being terrified by a movie called The Fall of the House of Usher when I was in grade school and saw it in the movies on a big screen. And, nice for you to have less vacuuming to do, but wondering how that would work on wall-to-wall carpeting which we have in the apt, except in the kitchen and bathrooms.

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    1. I used to watch those movies when they were simply scary. Then suddenly it was a contest to see which movie could splatter more blood and gore at me. If they could simulate the causes of the blood and gore even better. I cannot deal with that.
      The Roomba works very well on wall-to wall carpeting. That is what I have.

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  6. hahaha your sounds like very interesting yet very extraordinary kid Emma!

    my youngest one is so scared of horror movies and it is him that i left watching such movies and now either i have lost interest in such movies (not completely though)

    Your son's love for exploring technical aspects of gadgets and loving them reminded me my late brother who loved such activities too.

    One incident that makes me smile always is when we brought a a moving car with winnie the pooh sitting on it for my younger son on his second birthday .
    when we turned it on my son gave a loud shout and ran under the bed ,he was crying as someone beaten him ,we stopped and hugged him ,i hide the toy away and gave him on his third birthday and thank God reaction was satisfactory

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    1. It is strange what things will frighten a child. I am happy that your brother eventually warmed up to the gift.

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  7. Your oldest may be the first one in the family to jump down a rabbit hole.

    And the stories start, never end.

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    1. I believe you are right. He brought Alice to us all.

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