Want to help your child in overcoming childhood fears and anxieties? Read all about common childhood fears, childhood anxiety, how parents can help children in coping with childhood fears and anxieties, childhood phobias and more. Children fear many things like the dark, monsters, dogs and more.
Fears and anxieties are common during childhood. Fear of the dark is a very common childhood fear experienced by many children. Children are not so mature and hence they cannot rationalize the fear because their ability to rationalize is limited.
What is child anxiety?
All children experience some fear or anxiety at some point. Even parents when they were small would have had irrational fears which they eventually grew out of. In fact a little bit of anxiety in children is healthy because it will make them cautious of things. A little bit of anxiety and stress has also been seen to enhance performance. If a child is scared of a Maths test, it would propel him to work harder. Most fears in childhood are common and natural. Researchers have found that most fears in children gradually disappear with time.
When is it a cause of concern?
If the fear or anxiety is of very high level and interfering with normal activities, it can be a cause of concern. The fear must not turn into a phobia. A phobia is when the fear becomes severe and extreme. If the fear is causing great distress to the child and persists beyond that appropriate age, professional help can be sought.
Common Fears and Anxieties in Children
Some of the common fears in childhood include fear of the dark, fear of animals, fear of school (especially in kindergarten).
Babies experience anxiety in the presence of strangers. When they see somebody they do not recognize they immediately cling to their parents. A baby's world is surrounded by parental security and calm. When this sense of calm is interrupted maybe by a stranger or a loud noise, the toddler gets scared. Parents must try to keep the number of caretakers in a toddler's life minimal. Regular touch, eye contact, talking or singing to your baby will help to form a strong bond between the parent and the baby and create a foundation of trust.
Toddlers a little older between the age of 10 to 18 months experience separation anxiety. When one or both parents are not there they become emotionally distressed and start crying at times.
Kids between the ages of three to six experience fears of imaginary figures like ghosts or monsters. They also experience fears like fear of darkness, fear of being sleeping alone, fear of thunder and lightning, fear of animals (mostly fear of dogs) and fear of the dark.
Children between the ages of seven to twelve may experience fears like fear of being alone at home, fear of snakes and spiders, fear about performance in school.
Teenagers between the ages of thirteen to seventeen may have fears like fear of rejection, fear of death, fear of embarrassment, fear of making mistakes, etc.
How to help children in overcoming fear
Parents can help children to overcome their fears in the following ways-
Parents can reassure the children by listening to the fear. Parents can help by saying that "Don't worry, I will come with you when it is dark to the kitchen or bathroom." Parents must not ridicule the fear, must not take it lightly or show anger. However, they must not get over-protective also.
Many a times, children's fears are learned from the parents. If parents show a lot of worry about the bad financial situation in the house and constantly talk about it in front of the child, the child may also begin to worry about it.
Sometimes just talking about the fear by the child will help to ease the child's worry.
Teach your child to face fear so that he or she can overcome it. The natural tendency of the parent is to protect the child from the fear. If your child is extremely afraid of the dark you can help him. Stand and tell him to go to the dark room and come back. Assure him that you are standing there only and nothing will happen. When your child goes to the dark room and comes back, tell him "See you felt scared, but still you did it". While he is engaging in the activity constantly try to encourage him this way.
Thus, using by positive parenting techniques, parents can help the child in coping with childhood fears and overcoming fears.
