puppy scared of children!

my 7 month old ridgeback is terrified of children, he wont let them stroke him or come within ten paces lol. he gets really sheepish and backs away quickly if he comes to close to children. do you think he will grow out of it? or do i need to be worried its going to turn into aggression?

I have a dog that is scared of children, well petrified would be nearer the truth. He was fine until a toddler threw it's arms round his neck and he has not been the same since. He loves laying outside all day but if he hears a child he rushes indoors and back to his bed and will not be tempted out. Never shown aggression just fear.

Mya's the same, and now Len is following suit. As with Pita, no aggression, just fear...... ... although I wouldn't trust Len 100%, sadly.

Hi Gadge, you don't say the ages of your children .
This article by Shadowboxer may be of help to you.

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=10261

Your puppy is still very young and if his experiences with Children are positive he should learn to like them in time, some points to note..
..Never leave the Children unsupervised with the puppy,
..don't allow them to disturb the puppy when it is sleeping ,
....make sure the puppy has a safe haven away from the children, (a crate covered with a rug is good for this),
..encourage the children to bend down and call the puppy to them rather than allowing them to approach the puppy so that the puppy won't be overpowered and can decline the invitation to approach the child if it doesn't feel comfortable ,
..encourage the children to teach the puppy to sit then praise/treat to build confidence and trust between them.

i dont have any children, its just children we come across on walks. he is also terrified of illuminas jackets and hats lol

I'd work on it now, do you know anyone with well behaved kids, so that the dog can take his time to investigate them properly.
I would also work on anything else that scares him, leave a luminous jacket and selection of hats laying on the floor and let him investigate them with you. Once he's comfortable with that put the jacket on, then walk towards him etc. associate it with play and just get him to see it for what it is.
I don't like dogs being scared of anything it makes them unpredictable so all of mine have had to deal with whatever scared them as pups and are now pretty bomb-proof.

Forgot to say, if you don't own a high viz jacket you can buy them in JJB, a waistcoat is a couple of quid, a bomber jacket is about £12 if I remember rightly. They're also available on line etc.
No idea where you can find well behaved dog savvy kids local to you though

Freya is also terrified of children... she nearly broke my OH`s leg when a little girl tried to stroke her and Freya leapt backwards by about 10 ft.

Have to say I do have sympathy I'm a bit scared of them as well.

Mac is scared and Clover I ensured got some good experiences in!

Clover loves food, so I got kids to feed her. I was actually suprised at how cautious she was meeting a large group of children for the first time... But I guess they are quite unusual in their own way. Anyway, I got the kids to feed her, and she was soon following them around to get the food. (The kids were great and followed my instructions.)
I knew we had it sorted when a 'foreign kid' approached the group and sat down, and Clover climbed on her lap straight away! Now when Clover sees kids she can hardly contain her excitement after this and similar positive experiences.

I wouldn't wait for your dog to 'just grow out of it', but make efforts to have her associate children with good things ASAP.