February Blog Post!

Madison Kemnitz

Christina Ivey

February Blog Post

28 February, 2017

            I am choosing to talk about Gomez’s Book, Man Up, but more specifically chapter two, which is titled Fear: Beneath the Façade. This chapter explains the fear a little boy, Carlos had great fears of the real world, and of what his future held. At the beginning of the story Carlos lists many things that he was scared of as a kid, and unfortunately I can relate to many of them. I pride myself now being outgoing, and not afraid of others or what others might say, but I can admit to the fact that I have not always lived my life in this manner. Until reading this story, I didn’t know what exactly I was afraid of as a child, or could not effectively place the memories, but this did assist me.

            By reading throughout the thoughts that passed through Carlos’s head as a child, I was able to identify with many of them. The first lines that I felt related to were, “I was afraid of the dark” and “I was afraid of monsters under my bed” (pg. 1). Looking back, I remember crying in my bed at night, but I do not think that I necessarily knew why I would be crying. At this point in my like I can relate it to the fact that the dark or possible monsters under my bed could have been part of the reason in a few ways. I know that most nights I would go to my parent’s room if I were crying or scared, and everything would be alright. Their lights would still be on every night, so that took care of the dark, and I knew that I was safe from any possible monsters in my parents bed. This extra net of safety allowed me to then peacefully fall asleep.

            Having a different perspective now, it amazes me that something so natural, and as common as the dark can have such a big influence on the minds of young children. According to Trisha Thompson, at the young age when kids are most commonly scared of the dark, or having monsters under their bed is when they are developing most of their imagination. At this point many children will have a hard time grasping the difference between fantasy and real life, so the dinosaurs they play with may come into their dream or thoughts as children drift off to bed, leaving them to the belief that these monsters are now under their bed. On the other hand, being afraid of the dark most commonly comes from the development of the idea that things can harm oneself, so the dark alludes to the idea that something will harm them when they cannot see, according to Thompson.

            Another thought that Carlos encompassed that I can also directly relate to is the belief that when you were left with babysitters, your parents would never return. When I was a young child, I hated when my parents had a babysitter, which was every Tuesday night, so that they could have date night. Each week I knew that we would get pizza, and watch American Idol and have a great time, but I always had an irrational fear that my parents wouldn’t come back from their date night alive. Every Tuesday night I would cry when out babysitter arrived, and as soon as I woke up Wednesday morning, I remember running down the hall to my parents room to assure my parents were home from the night before, and getting ready for work. Not only did this fear come from being very close to my mom, and never wanting to leave her side, but also, form the trauma I had heard stories about. When my dad was two years’ old he was left with his older sisters as babysitters when his parents were going to fly some costumers and their selves to dinner in Havasu, from Phoenix. Sadly, after dinner my grandpa crashed the plane, and for my two-year-old dad, every child’s worst nightmare became reality. I grew up knowing that I didn’t have grandparents because they died, and never came home from their date night which was traumatizing to me as a child.  Knowing that circumstances like these are more than plausible makes my perception of a menial event very real, and frightening.  I am grateful that I have outgrown these fears, and I was never harmed in the dark, found a monster under my bed, or woke up to the absence of my parents after having a babysitter. This writing, and Carlos’s thoughts were very relatable to me.

 Works Cited

Gomez, Carlos. Man Up: Cracking the Code of Modern Manhood. New York: Gotham, 2012.

Print. 28 February, 2017

Thompson, Trisha. “Night Time Fears: Why do they happen and what to do about them.” Baby

Center. September 2016. Web. 28 February, 2017.