Toddler Has A Strange Fear Of Walking On Leaves

Here's some curious obsessive behavior. At the risk of coming across as armchair psychologists, we might even say phobia. Of course, we don't really know that for sure without talking to the little darling, but it is clear she behaves as if she's afraid to step on leaves. Very curious.Show more

Not everything is as it seems, however, especially with pre-verbal infants. The “uh oh” as she approaches a leaf is unmistakable. Is she genuinely concerned for the well being of the leaf? Perhaps this is the child's way of getting Dad to pick her up. Things look different when you're that close to the ground. The world is somehow more magical. It is a fact of development that between the ages of not talking to talking, infants approach the world as animists, which means every natural phenomenon, whether it is the sun or a tree, or the neighborhood squirrel, is imbued with a spirit. In some weird way this little girl may recognize that it's just not OK to step on a leaf.

Everything is a guess here. Nothing can be taken for granted. Very likely, years from now, the little girl will have only the faintest memory of this event. She will giggle with the rest of us when watching herself haltering at fallen leaves, and shrug her shoulder when pressed about why she wouldn't step on leaves. In rare instances toddlers do remember flashing scenes from their youngest years. What is important about this is that we supposedly can't put words to memories before we learned to speak. There may be evidence, however, that children understand language long before they are able to speak it themselves. In any case, we're just going to have to wait a few years to interview the young cutie.

“Why didn't you want to step on the leaf?”

“It was so pretty!”

...Well, that's one take, but who knows?

She negotiated the first barricade of leaves pretty well, but the second barricade was just too much for her and...Daddy to the rescue!

You have to love the little stamping routine. It's classical for the age group. She's not exactly throwing a tantrum, just giving a warning stamp. She's putting her foot down! “No, I won't cross this line!”

Nothing too bad can happen as long as dad is there to save her. The father-daughter bonding undoubtedly began long before this scene. She is quite sure her hero will come to her rescue. Some dilemmas just take a little more time than others to work through. We all know, or have ourselves been children with inexplicable fears. If there was anything rational about being an infant then everything we ever knew about children would be turned on its head. Mark your calendar; in ten years, maybe 20, we may revisit the comments section and get our answer.

In the meantime, let us enjoy an innocent moment we can all identify with, an autumn stroll through the neighborhood, walking hand in hand with dad, when life was just alright