My 4 year old is convinced there is a gorilla in the bathroom across from his bedroom so he is terrified when he wakes up in the middle of the night and it is hours until he falls back asleep.
We have been dealing with this for awhile but he has said he does not want to be alone but it seemed to be more than that. So tonight he told us about the gorilla. We showed him there is no gorilla but he said it only is there when we are asleep.
So we mixed up a little fabric softener and water in a spray bottle, called it gorilla spray, and sprayed a barrier around his room and a little on his bed.
He went to sleep pretty quickly and asked us to leave the hall light on.

Any other suggestions on dealing with the gorilla in the bathroom?

Lock his door. Kids that age will try all sorts of antics to stay up, sleep with Mom and Dad, you name it.

Try the kiddie gloves things, but if it fails...

If I thought there was a gorilla in my closet, I'd prefer a large caliber rifle...not spray!

You need to let him know and show him that his is a "Good Gorilla". There to protect him and you. He is your friend and nothing to be afraid of.

Trip wires, and gorilla traps would work too.

P.S. Make him a large caliber rifle

Maybe leave a "poisoned banana"?

Haha, btw, about to have our first kid...a boy. Just thinking of ways I'd handle it.

No question, Marlin lever in 45-70.

Don't suppose you have access to a claymore...

As long as he's good with the spray, I'd say you empowered him, which is really what he needed.

Good job Dad.

When we were very little, my younger brother was afraid to go in a dark room, where there were bears.

I took a sheet of paper and a pencil, scribbled out a note and gave it to him. “If you see a bear, give this to him. It says, ‘Dear Bear, please don’t eat my brother.’”

This worked like a charm. It’s been nearly 70 years. He couldn’t read then, but it didn't matter because I couldn’t write. He hasn’t been afraid of the dark since, the bears left him alone, and now he does my taxes.

You might try a trick we used when my grandson spent the stayed with us when he was little...he feared the generic "monster" which lived in the closet/under the bed/hallway...you know, wherever "monsters" hang out when the lights go off at bedtime. My wife had a green LED "palm tree" shaped nightlight which she put in the guest room where he stayed when he with us...She told him "monsters" are afraid of green light (both of us reinforced this monster/green light repel thing during the day)...after a few days/nights he was assured when the green LED was in the room he was free from random "monster" threats ...

He's seven now and both he and my six year old granddaughter still request the green "monster" light when they spend the night ...

This...or M18 Claymores

Present him this shirt, tell him the gorilla's name was Harambe, and that he's gone to be with gorilla Jesus.

Easy, spread legos all over the floor.

I am just relieved that you did not have to harvest any gorilla glands.

My wife and I only have experience with alligators.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigforall:
My wife and I only have experience with alligators.

She's still afraid you'll throw her to them when you;re are the zoo, huh?

Try to do it once and it scars them for life....

Night light in the bathroom?

With my youngest girl it was monsters under the bed.

I made up a long, multi-night story about the princesses of Upperbed and Lowerbed (my girls have bunk beds) and how their kingdoms were beset by the Monsters of Underbed.
However the Valiant Armies of Prince Downthehall (their older brother) poured into a massive battle in The Valley of Stinky Sneakers and drove the Monsters of Underbed far into the nether regions beyond the tree line of Pasttheyard.

Tell him, “don’t worry – gorillas will only get children who don’t listen to their parents.”

The gorilla is there to guard you from the big scary monsters that EAT little boys.

That should handle his fear of gorillas.

Now you have to make a bottle of spray for the big scary monsters.

He slept past 3am which is huge. Got him back asleep and when the little bro woke up at 6:45 he told him all about the Gorilla Spray and how it worked.