What do young children always tell their parents they fear the most in the world?
No, it’s not snakes or being home alone (Hello, Kevin McCallister!) or scary news.
Most young children are afraid of monsters under their beds, including seven-year-old Jakob Garfield.
And it’s gotten so bad that Jakob began to sneak into his parents’ bed at night because of this fear. His mother, Heather, knew she had to do something to make Jakob feel safe.
“He’s been having some trouble with fears at night and what lies in the darkness, what’s outside his bedroom, what’s under his bed,” Heather told CBC’s Radio West’s Sarah Penton.
Heather and her husband, Norm, had a similar experience with Jakob’s older brother, Kyle. They remedied that problem with a homemade monster spray she made. They sprayed it at night to “make the monsters go away.”
Unfortunately, Jakob wasn’t as easily convinced.
“He’s a little too smart for his own good sometimes,” Heather said. “So I had to make it quite official.”
Heather went to their local Shopper’s Drug Mart to ask for help from the pharmacist.
“She told me that she had one kind of weird request,” Shopper’s Drug Mart pharmacy manager Jepal Patel said. “I wanted to help her. I really loved her idea.”
Heather came out of the pharmacy with an official-looking remedy for Jakob.
Patel “prescribed” a bottle of Monster Spray for Jakob Garfield, complete with instructions. It was actually just a bottle of water with a printed out label that said, “Spray around bedroom at night before bedtime and repeat if needed.”
Heather added lavender oil to the “monster spray” before giving the protective spray to Jakob.
Heather loved the service that Shopper’s Drug Mart gave her and gushed about them on her local Facebook group.
“Huge thank you to ShoppersDrugMart on the Hart. My youngest has been having a fear of the dark and all the scary things that might come out. I asked the pharmacy if they could make me a monster spray label and even though they were busy they were happy to do it,” Heather Garfield wrote. “I apologize but I didn’t get the name of the lady that helped me. I love our Shoppers location and the way they take care of our family, he is so excited for bed tonight…and so is mama lol.”
Because Heather posted it in her community’s Facebook group, Patel also saw what she wrote and replied, thanking Heather for the appreciation post.
“I am so glad that I was able to help.. I am very overwhelmed [by] the response that we have been getting from the lovely Hart community for our store and staff. We will continue to keep up the good work,” Patel wrote.
The other members of the group loved what Patel and Shopper’s did for Heather and Jakob and applauded them on the post.
“This is amazing customer service. They put a little guys fears to bed. Wow love this! It’s all about the little things in life. This above and beyond customer service. This is a mom who gets it,” a local resident wrote.
So did it work?
Heather said she found Jakob still on her bed during the first night.
“He looks at me and says, ‘Mom I think it’s just water,'” Heather said.
She told him that it could take some time but his special spray will keep him safe.
“He said, ‘Well mommy, if monster spray is real that means monsters are real,” Heather shared.
That’s true, Jakob. Good thing Heather was still able to convince him to go back to sleep. Here’s hoping it’ll eventually work and Jakob will sleep soundly in his own bed for years to come.
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