Are You Scared

Are you still scared by the dark? If not, you would likely be very surprised at how many adults suffer with fear of the dark. In fact, the fear of dark is not only common among children but also adults. Fears are a natural stage of the human development and the fear of the dark is the most common also among adults, both male and female.

In the dark, shadows become alive and can turn into the tremendous monsters which during daytime we succeed to keep hidden.

But this fear is not innate and kids do not feel it until after 2 years. At this age they have already learned a lot about their environment and are experiencing independence and new abilities with an increasing frequency. At the same time, children are gradually emotionally separating by their mother as a consequent result of their freshly conquered independence, but this process can create anxieties which are expressed by the many fears typical of this age.

Children think the monsters invisible in the dark as real, because they still cannot distinguish imagination from reality and therefore we should never undervalue their conduct and consider it as a mere tantrum or even be very intolerant forcing them to behave normally thus probably causing the problem to growth and endure for life.

There isn’t any magic instruction to help your children overcoming their fears, mostly because every child has a different sensitivity and different reactions to the same situation, so that we cannot make a general rule.

Probably the best thing to do is to tranquillize them, not turning though into overprotective. Then we should verify what they watch in tv which, even though appropriate for their age, can sometimes  agitation and nervousness. Consider also their toys because sometimes plush we consider very cute or funny can upset them. Moreover, toys’ shadows in the dark can be extremely scary!

Never try to make fun of their anxiety even though simply to minimize the problem, but be supportive. Turn on a night light and remain with them a for a while after they get into bed, until their eyes get used to the low night light. You can make them feel very happy singing them a lullaby or reading a short, delicate fairy-tale or a nice story. Leave their room before they get asleep (if they aren’t too afraid this will help them develop their personality because with your help they will realize they can brave their fear…) but leave the night light on the whole night (night lights have a low power consumption) so that they will not be afraid in case they wake up before morning.

Originally published here.

Daniela deals with items for a better life and a better home: decorative night lights at http://www.decorativenightlights.net, massage chairs at http://www.mastermassagechair.com and inflatable water slides at http://www.inflatableslidehouse.com/store

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.