Oh, DD had a fear of two VERY specific things at that age: Dragonflies.
WALKING in parking lots.
She eventually grew out of both, but it did seem like it took forever. DH was absolutely convinced that our mothers and I had 'fostered' the parking lot thing-- she would quite literally wig out and shriek if an adult wouldn't pick her up and carry her-- but it most definitely wasn't the case.
I (personally) think that she simply could see that there was a real danger that she couldn't control-- I had told her that drivers found adults easier to SEE, and that was why she needed to hold an adult's hand-- and therefore she was insisting that it be managed in the way that she could see was safest from her perspective.
The dragonfly thing, on the other hand? Purely irrational. I would just hold her and ask her to look at my face and not at the dragonfly, and keep repeating that in a low voice until she could 'hear' me enough to comply.
