How to react to my 4 year old girl

by Rhiannon
(Kansas)

My husband and I do not want our daughter to feel weird about herself for seeing the things she sees or experiences. Neither of us have these experiences, but we have been told that she is an 'old soul'.

There have been several occasions where she had surprised us in the things she has seen and done.

She was locked in a one-person public restroom once by a 'man in shorts and a ripped shirt who was very nice'. She was the only person in there (that we could see) and the lock on the door was 5.5 feet off the ground. We had to instruct her to knock over a trash can and climb on it to unlock the door.

Another time we were in a hospital visiting family members of a friend who was in the ICU and she looked at a pair of unmarked doors that were the emergency exit to the ICU wing and pointed and told us that our friend was in there and was very sick. No one had entered or exited through those doors and she had not been able to see our friend because no children were allowed in the ICU, and the ICU entrance was around the corner.

She used to refuse going to the basement playroom at our good friend's house because the 'black men' were there. I told her to tell them that they were scaring her; she did and she hasn't been afraid to go down there since.

Also, she has mentioned that there are 'vermins' on the floor at her grandma's house, but can't describe them to us...just says they are naughty and say naughty things.

I would like for her to retain the gift that she has. I am sure she is a special kid and believe that she truly could put her gifts to good use. I just don't know where to start or how to talk to her without influencing her answers.