Mrs. Graf's World

One morning, during opening exercises, I was going over one of the points listed in our daily study, “Reasons We Need the Lord.” This day’s topic happened to be, “We need the Lord to take away our fears.” As I explained what God’s Word says about fear, I also read a list of existing phobias I found while reading an article on mental health. Some of the phobias were pretty common, such as fear of heights and fear of the dark. Others sparked a wave of hilarity—phobias such as fear of bearded men, and fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. When my class returned to our room to start the day, one boy asked if there was a name for “fear of the Yankees losing the World Series.” We promptly dubbed it “Yank-a-lose-aphobia.” Here are some other “phobias” my 3rd – 6th graders came up with:

• Fear of your sister or brother tattling on you: “Siblaphobia”
• Fear of getting the hiccoughs: “Hicaphobia”
• Fear of exploding: “Kaboomaphobia”
• Fear of getting electrocuted: “Zapaphobia”
• Fear of losing your hair: “Baldyaphobia”
• Fear of getting chased by the Graf’s dog when you’re taking out the school trash: “Beauaphobia”
• Fear of things under your bed: “Monsteraphobia”
• Fear of someone sneezing on you: “Germaphobia”
• Fear of teachers: “Teachaphobia”
• Fear of high school boys: “Highboyaphobia”
• Fear of falling of the Empire State Building: “Splataphobia”
• Fear of someone making fun of your baby pictures: “Googooaphobia”
• Fear of school being closed: “Boredtotearsaphobia”