Causes of children's fears, their features and methods of overcoming. Age fears in children of preschool and primary school age Situations of neurosis of fear in children of preschool age

Many parents are faced with such a problem as fears in preschool children. Studies conducted by psychologists have shown that there are about 30 types of fear. Some of them are harmless or funny from the point of view of adults, but there are also serious ones that can have an impact on the whole future life of the child. It has long been proven that most adult fears are formed in childhood.

What is fear

Fear is a natural response to danger, whether real or imagined. Parents should not forget that the child lives in his own world, where inanimate objects can talk and move, and fairy-tale characters are quite real. Therefore, the baby can see the threat where in fact it is not. Whatever caused children's fear, and no matter how he manifests himself, parents should take him seriously and correct him.

Psychologists distinguish the following types of children's fears:

• Free fear characterized by fearful anticipation, unrelated to a specific object or situation, which can manifest itself at any moment.
• neurotic fear appears due to a violation of mental functions, for example, due to neurosis.
• real fear is a normal reaction of the innate instinct of self-preservation to external danger.

Causes

Psychologists have divided the causes of fears in preschool children into several groups.

specific case. A certain situation that happened to a child, for example, he was bitten by a dog, or he was lost in a store, may cause him to fear a repetition of such an incident in the future. Most often, such fears appear in children who are insecure, suspicious, with increased anxiety.

Environment. Regular conflicts in the family can lead to fears in the child, as children often feel guilty about the quarrels of their parents. Difficulties in communication are also the cause of fears. If a child is offended in a team, it is difficult for him to establish contact with peers, older children intimidate him, then he may begin to be afraid of visiting a kindergarten or school.

Suggestion from the side. Sometimes the appearance of fears in children is provoked by overly emotional warnings about danger from parents, grandparents, educators. Adults worry about children, so quite often they warn them about the dangerous consequences of a situation or action, for example, "Don't walk - you will fall!", "Don't touch - you will get hurt." The child usually remembers the second part of the warning and feels anxious. In the future, the feeling of fear and anxiety will be fixed in his mind and will spread to similar situations. The fear inspired in childhood can remain with a person for life, so such phobias must be corrected.

own fantasy. At preschool age, children quite often come up with their own fears. For example, a child is afraid of the dark, as terrible monsters can hide in it. As they grow older, some children forget about such fears, and for some, they can cause the development of nervous disorders.

Mental disorders. Fears in children are also a symptom of neurosis, a mental illness that needs to be treated. With neurosis, strong attacks of fear appear for any reason, which are not characteristic of the age norm of the child.

Correction of fears with the help of drawing

While drawing, the child expresses his emotions. The drawing is a kind of mirror, reflecting the character traits, interests, hobbies of a preschooler. Therefore, psychologists consider the correction of fears in preschool children with the help of drawing effective method. When a child draws an object that causes fear in him, his anxiety, provoked by the expectation of a terrible thing, decreases. A preschooler will not be afraid of a drawing, since a painted fear is not dangerous, because it is something that has already happened.

The duration of drawing should not exceed 20-30 minutes. The child himself must choose: draw him one of his biggest fears or several that cause less fear.

Get your preschooler ready to draw. Before your child draws his fears, have him draw something with a neutral theme, such as his favorite animals or his family. According to the last picture, the psychologist can determine what kind of relationship the baby has with parents and loved ones.

Go to the topic of fears. Invite the child to draw a picture on the topic " Horrible dream' or 'What am I afraid of'. In cases where a preschooler does not know how to portray his fear, an adult can tell him. If the kid refuses to draw his fears, then this means that he denies them, in such situations it will not be easy to correct the phobia.

Analyze the drawings. Pay attention to what colors prevail in the picture. If mostly black and gray tones, then this is an indicator that the preschooler is in a depressed state. When the child's psyche is unable to cope with big amount fears, she shows it with a lowered mood. If the kid draws specific objects or phenomena that frighten him, then this is an indicator that he is ready to overcome his fear.

Discuss the drawings. Talk to the child about what he drew, express your approval to him that he was able to overcome his fear, and depict it.

Make fear funny. When discussing his drawing with a preschooler, try to describe it with humor. Then ask your child if he is afraid. If the child is no longer afraid of what he drew, be sure to praise him. And if the phobia still remains, then it has become much weaker, the main thing is that the child feels the support of adults. Regardless of the result of the correction, tell the baby that he did well on the task.

Introduction

In a situation of social instability, a modern child is exposed to many unfavorable factors that can not only slow down the development of the potentialities of the individual, but also reverse the process of its development. That's why great attention The problem of fear is given in the works of domestic psychologists and psychotherapists, who note an increase in the number of children with various fears, increased excitability and anxiety.

Children's fears are to some extent due to age characteristics and are temporary. However, those childhood fears that persist for a long time and are hard experienced by the child speak of the nervous weakness of the baby, the wrong behavior of the parents, conflict relations in the family and, in general, are a sign of trouble. Most of the reasons, as psychologists note, lie in the field of family relations, such as connivance, inconsistency in upbringing, negative or too demanding attitude towards the child, which gives rise to anxiety in him and then forms hostility to the world.

The child's psyche is characterized by heightened susceptibility, vulnerability, inability to withstand adverse influences. Neurotic fears appear as a result of prolonged and insoluble experiences or acute mental shocks, often against the background of a painful overstrain of nervous processes. Therefore, neurotic fears require special attention of psychologists, teachers and parents, since in the presence of such fears the child becomes constrained, tense. His behavior is characterized by passivity, affective isolation develops. In this regard, the question of early diagnosis of neurotic fears is acute.

IN Lately the issues of diagnosis and correction of fears have become important, due to their fairly wide distribution among children. In connection with the foregoing, there is an acute need for an integrated approach to solving the problem of correcting children's fears, in particular, involving the family. This work can be expressed both in familiarizing parents with the results of the study in an acceptable form, and in sending parents for a consultation with a specialist in family issues. Such an approach can affect not only the external aspects of the manifestation of fears, but also the circumstances that give rise to it.

Fears, emotional disturbances can be corrected and disappear without consequences in children under ten years of age. Therefore, it is extremely important to contact a specialist in a timely manner, to take measures to overcome phobias in a child. In this regard, the most relevant for practical psychology and pedagogy is the task of finding the most effective ways to identify and overcome the child's mental ill-being.

Problem: the problem is not so much in identifying fears in children,

how many in the choice of complex, individual methods of their

corrections.

Object of study: children's fears as a psychological

pedagogical phenomenon.

Subject of study: children's fears and ways to correct them.

Purpose of the study: identify the types of children's fears and determine ways to correct them at preschool age.

Tasks: 1. Analyze the work of domestic and foreign scientists on the problem of fears.

2. To study the psychological reasons for the formation of children's fears.

3. Consider the influence of fear and anxiety on the emerging personality of the child.

4. Reveal the nature of children's fears and ways to correct them at preschool age.

5. To develop a model of remedial classes to overcome fears among preschoolers.

Research methods

1. Analysis of scientific and methodological literature.

2. Questioning.

3. Conversations with teachers and parents.

Chapter 1

1.1. Causes of children's fears

Psychologists of the 20th century saw the cause of anxiety in the development of civilization and the huge flow of information that avalanche falls on a person. Modern psychology considers anxiety as a social phenomenon. The scientist K. Izard explains the difference between the terms "fear" and "anxiety" in this way: anxiety is a combination of some emotions, and fear is only one of them. Russian psychologist A.I. Zakharov believes that fear is one of the fundamental emotions of a person that arises in response to the action of a threatening stimulus.

A.I. Zakharov notes that fear can develop in a person at any age: in children from 1 to 3 years of age, night fears are not uncommon, in the 2nd year of life, the fear of unexpected sounds, fear of loneliness, fear of pain (and associated fear of healthcare workers). At 3-5 years old, children are characterized by fears of loneliness, darkness and confined spaces. From 5-7 years, the fear of death becomes the leading one. From 7 to 11 years old, children are most afraid of “not being the one who is well spoken of, respected, appreciated and understood.” Each child has certain fears. However, if there are a lot of them, then we can talk about manifestations of anxiety in the character of the child. To date, a definite point of view on the causes of anxiety has not yet been developed.

An objective approach to considering the emotion of fear requires pointing out that, despite its negative connotation, fear performs various functions in a person's life. Throughout human history, fear has accompanied people, expressed in the fear of darkness, fire, natural phenomena. Fear mobilized the scientific and creative potential of people to fight against the elements. Fear played and plays a protective role, allowing you to avoid meeting with danger. Fear also acts as a kind of means of understanding the realities of the surrounding world, leading to a more critical and selective attitude towards the phenomena of life. Therefore, according to A.I. Zakharov, fear can be considered as a natural accompaniment of human development.

In the most general form, fear is conditionally classified into situational (arising in unusual situations) and personally conditioned (predetermined by the nature of a person with anxious suspiciousness). Fear can be real or imagined, acute or chronic. It is also customary to single out age-related fears, the appearance of which most often coincides with certain changes in the child's life, in other words, age-related fears are a reflection of the child's personal development. Fears can be conditionally divided into situational and personally conditioned. Situational fear occurs in an unusual, extremely dangerous or shocking environment for the child. Personally conditioned fear is predetermined by the nature of the person, for example, his tendency to experience anxiety, and may appear in a new environment or in contact with strangers. Both fear and anxiety have a common emotional component in the form of feelings of excitement and anxiety, that is, they reflect the perception of a threat or lack of a sense of security. The age periodization of the formation of feelings and the appearance of fears in children is described by T.A. Danilina.

Fear (from Greek fear) is a strong and unrealistic fear of something - open space (for example, fear of squares, parks or large shops), closely enclosed spaces, heights, harmless animals (with zoophobia) or some or an object (usually a living one) that does not cause excessive fear in other people.

Fears arise as a result of mental illness, neuroses, life shocks, physical or mental overwork, after traumatic stressful effects. They are more common in people with a weak will, prone to obsessive emotional states, thoughts, memories. Some phobias are found in mentally healthy people, such as fear of the dark, fear of water, heights, the appearance of certain animals, etc., although they may not contain a real threat.

The primary formation of states with obsessive fear occurs in conditions of a sudden experience by a person of a negative emotional reaction (fear, anxiety, extreme puzzlement, etc.).

There are many phobias (anxiety), fears (phobias, simple phobias) are, as it were, an integral part of the personality of an anxious and suspicious structure and represent a fear of any objects, animals, insects, for example: agoraphobia - fear of visible space (it’s scary to walk across a bridge, cross the road, etc.); claustrophobia - fear of enclosed spaces (it's scary to be indoors, in a museum and even a theater); acrophobia - fear of heights (it’s scary to fly on an airplane, walk along a high bridge, go up to a window, stand on the balcony of the top floor of a high-rise building: it seems that the height “beckons”, and the person involuntarily moves to the edge, although he does not take a single step); aichmophobia - fear of sharp objects, arachnophobia - fear of spiders, herpetophobia - fear of snakes, glenophobia - fear of a doll's gaze, or special situations: anthropophobia - fear of people, crowds, homocidophobia - fear of committing murder, dentophobia - fear of dental intervention, dermatophobia - fear of skin disease illness, maniophobia - fear of insanity, mysophobia - fear of pollution, monophobia - fear of loneliness, nosophobia - fear of injury, incurable disease, infection, oxyphobia - fear of sharp objects, pettophobia - fear of society, sitophobia - fear of eating, scoptophobia - fear of seeming ridiculous, to draw attention to oneself, suicidophobia - the fear of committing suicide, thanatophobia - the fear of sudden death, taphephobia - the fear of being buried alive, phobophobia - the fear of fear, ereitophobia - the fear of blushing, and pantophobia - an all-encompassing obsessive fear.

Some of them, such as agoraphobia, are separated into separate diagnostic categories, the rest are combined into a group of simple phobias. The diagnosis of simple phobia is usually made after exclusion of agoraphobia and social phobia. A simple phobia, as a rule, is not accompanied by a vegetative complex, although suddenly falling into a phobic situation can provoke a panic attack. Often people who are prone to phobias are aware of the futility of their fears, but they cannot cope with them.

Psychiatrists clearly distinguished between anxiety and fear as early as the 19th century. Fear always has a reason. The threat is gone, the fear is gone. The anxiety has no apparent reason. Fear sharpens the senses, mobilizes strength and induces action. Anxiety paralyzes the will, torments, oppresses, causes mental and physical suffering, and can lead to illness. This means that anxiety is a painful state of the psyche, which can be eliminated only with the help of a psychologist, psychoneurologist, psychiatrist.

The American psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan believed that the psyche of any person can be understood only by unraveling the tangle of relationships in which he is with other people and in which his individuality is clearly manifested. This is the relationship between mother and child. Sullivan called them empathy, i.e. empathy. If a child grows fearful, then something is wrong in his relationship with his mother. It's not just a lack of attention and love. If the mother is fearful, the child also becomes fearful. This is so common that a hypothesis has arisen: timidity is inherited. But still, many psychotherapists are sure that this is the result of upbringing in infancy and early childhood.

Domestic psychologists L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, A.V. Zaporozhets and others and the American scientists Alfred Adler, Harry Stack Sullivan and others assert that in the early years satisfaction of the vital, i.e. necessities of life such as food, drink, sleep, self-security. When these needs are fully satisfied, social needs arise: communication with an adult, his affection, love, bringing information about the world around him - all that contributes to the development of a person as a person.

Scientists believe that anxiety, skillfully overcome by a person, not taking the form of an illness, is necessary. The eminent German psychiatrist Baron Victor Emil von Gebsattel wrote: “Undoubtedly, it is worth striving for a life without fear, but it is not at all obvious that it is worth striving for a life from which anxiety would be expelled ... The excitation of anxiety and the development of the ability to sympathy, mutual understanding can become a vital task for a person ... "

For the most part, fears in children are temporary and disappear with the right reaction of parents to them. Without panicking or ridiculing, you need to calmly talk with the child, trying to identify the causes of fears and begin to correct them. But if fears of a neurotic or obsessive nature (phobias), if they cannot be corrected at home, then you should contact specialists for qualified help. If you do not pay attention to the fears of the child, then the consequences in the future can result in serious problems.

Fear of the dark and other childhood fears

Many children experience certain fears for many years, the causes and consequences of which can be very diverse. The most common childhood fear is the fear of the dark, which appears, as a rule, from the age of three and older. It is for this age period that a well-developed imagination and not fully developed logic, which is not able to distinguish fantasies from reality, are characteristic. Sometimes a baby can be frightened by a simple trifle, which for an adult will turn out to be sheer nonsense or even stupidity. It is important not to miss the moment when such childhood fears appear, because they must certainly be defeated. Otherwise, such fears can cause significant difficulties in the future, making themselves felt in adulthood.

The extinguished light in the room radically changes the child's perception of the surrounding space and things that were completely harmless with the lights on become mysterious and ominous in the dark. The reason for fears, most often, is not clear to the kids themselves, but it becomes clear to specialists who claim that such a fear is caused by a space that is inaccessible to the child. Such a "territory" even got its symbolic name - dead space. Adults' misunderstanding of the reasons why a child is afraid of the dark and ways to eliminate them often misleads parents and they, quite mistakenly, try to get rid of fears through punishment, closing and leaving children alone in dark rooms. However, it is absolutely impossible to get rid of fear in this way, but it is possible to strengthen and develop it even more.

Fears in children of preschool and school age

The reasons for the appearance of other children's fears can be a variety of very banal things: the child is stuck in the elevator, he was bitten by a pet or some kind of insect, even an unpleasant word spoken can be stored in the memory of the baby for a long time, which in the future may have a bad effect on him. psyche. Sometimes parents, unwittingly, can intimidate a child: phrases such as “if you don’t be obedient, Baba Yaga will take you away” and the like, are one of the reasons for the appearance of children's fears.

The child can also be haunted by impressive fears, which over time are deposited in the subconscious. Often, parents warn the child about the danger on the road or on the street in an overly emotional voice, and this can develop inner fear in the child . Fear in children is often caused by an anxious atmosphere in the family: the calmer it is, the stronger the child's psyche.

Some fears in children are the norm at a certain age and go away on their own. So, a baby of 3-5 years old is often afraid of loneliness, darkness and enclosed space; at 6 and 7 years of age, a child may be afraid of something related to school, get lost and be left alone, various monsters, physical punishment; at the age of 7 and 8, the child may also have fears of physical punishment and related to school, inattention of peers and dislike of parents, fear of disasters and cataclysm, darkness; at 8 and 9 years of age - also fears related to school, physical punishment and dislike of parents, fear of losing them, inability to do anything in games, exposure to deceit or bad behavior; at 9, 10, 11 years of age - fear of illness, heights, circling, any animals or people - alcoholics, drug addicts, bandits, the unattainability of success in anything; at 11, 12 and 13 years of age, a child may have a fear of defeat, illness, death, his outstanding behavior and insolvency in something, sexual violence, criticism in his direction, loss of personal items.

The main task of parents in such situations is to provide timely assistance to the child, which he needs so much.

How to deal with fears in children

Before you begin to get rid of fears in children, you need to calmly (this helps them feel safe) ask the child about what he is afraid of, but do not focus on any fear so as not to fix it in the child; encouraging, ask him to describe when he has a feeling of fear. But don't tell your child that he makes up his own fears and that they don't really exist. So you will not help the child get rid of his fear.

If a child is terribly afraid of the dark, you should not force him to fall asleep in a dark room. Thus, it is only possible to suppress the child's fears, driving them inside, creating serious prerequisites for even greater development of fear. Turn off the light only with the full consent of the baby. At night, it is recommended to leave additional light sources in the form of nightlights on so that he can contemplate what is happening around him. You can not turn off the night light after the child falls asleep: if he suddenly wakes up, he will be even more frightened.

Some children are helped by a large soft toy, with whom they go to bed, and which becomes their comrade, protecting them from annoying fears.

- Praise the child during your confidential conversation and offer him only in bright and positive colors. Also, the painted fear can be “destroyed”: burn it, crush it, tear it, or simply imprison it in the picture.

An important role in the fight against fears can be played by properly selected cartoons, in which ill-wishers and monsters are represented as kind and cheerful creatures. So, using the imagination of the baby, you can imagine the fears are quite funny and harmless, those that do no harm. And using the image of a certain character (for example, a kind brownie), you can create a reliable guard who will protect the peace of the child while he sleeps sweetly.

You should pay more attention to the child, stroking his head - it calms. It is important to talk more with the child about his fears. As scientific practice shows, the more the baby talks about his fears, the faster they dissipate.

A great help will be reading fairy tales with a good ending before going to bed. Or come up with your own fairy tale with him, which will surely end with the victory of the child over fear! Play the plot of the fairy tale with him and, if the child's reaction is positive, repeat it again later. If the reaction is negative, then choose another way to get rid of fears or contact a specialist.

In order to defeat all the fears of the child, parents should not remain indifferent to them. Fairy tales about fears with a happy ending, visualization of fear and its destruction, frank talk about fears and their exposure are the most effective methods of dealing with children's fear. In more serious situations, when parents can’t cope with the baby’s fears on their own, you should contact psychologists, not embarrassed by such a step, because a competent specialist can always find a way out of even the most difficult situation.

It is possible that your child's fears are caused by reasons that you have no idea about. The psychologist talks about them in this video

And in conclusion, I want to say to all parents: if your child does not obey, never scare him with Babaika or Baba Yaga. It is very scary for him that someone will come for him, and you, it turns out, will not protect him. You should instill in the child that you love him and will always protect him, and that he is safe at home.

Your child can listen to an audio recording of a famous child psychologist Lyudmila Petranovskaya, who gives very interesting and accessible advice on what a child should do if he is afraid of the dark…

Experts give advice on how parents can help a child overcome fear.

Not all fears are bad. In fact, a little trepidation contributes to our safety. "Without fear, we'd go where we shouldn't," says Tamar E. Chansky, Ph.D., author of Freeing Your Child from Fear and director of the Children's Center for OCD and Anxiety.

Some of them are evolutionary in nature. For example, many children - and adults - are afraid of not having their own experience with snakes, scorpions, etc. Some children experience anxiety, often strong emotional reactions to direct experience. But mostly, a child's fears are a predictable rite.

Your toddler's anxiety changes over time. Here are some of the most common childhood anxieties they may experience at different stages of development.

The kid is afraid

• loud noises or sudden movements;
• large objects;
• strangers;
• stay alone;
• changes in the house.

Fears in preschool age:

• darkness;
• noise at night;
• masks;
• monsters and ghosts;
• animals such as dogs.

Fears at school age:

• snakes and spiders;
• storms and natural disasters;
• to be in the house alone;
• fear of a teacher who is angry;
• scary news or TV shows;
• trauma, illness, doctors, shots, death;
• fear of failure and rejection.

Reducing fear in toddlers

In an ideal situation, the world of the baby is provided with safety and tranquility thanks to parental care. Anything that disturbs this idyll (a loud noise or a stranger) causes fear. One simple thing One thing you can do to keep calm is to establish a predictable routine for your baby. Also, minimize the number of guardians. A strong bond with your child—through regular touch, eye contact, talking, or singing—builds a foundation of trust, instilling your child against future anxiety. With the expansion of the world of preschoolers, they continue to be afraid of new places and people. Unfamiliar influences bring fear of the unexpected.

Some of them are the result of specific experiences, but others are related to the developing imagination of children. Realizing that there really is nothing hiding in this dark closet, the baby calms down - this is a wonderful achievement. But at this age, they have not mastered the skill enough to know how to dispel fear. Christine Lagattuta, PhD in Psychology, is a professor at the University of California, Davis, doing research with preschoolers. She studies how they create a connection between the mind and the senses. Lagattuta explains that "When an emotion is real, then it is difficult for children to determine that the experience that comes with it is not reality."

How to help your child

At any age, break down the work of overcoming fear into small steps, turning the struggle into something fun and positive. By creating competing emotions, you help get rid of anxiety.

Decreasing fear in students

Explosion of knowledge and experience in school years introduces children to more life-threatening situations: fires, robberies, storms and wars. Realism is starting to set in. However, don't assume that you always know the exact source of your child's fears. If he avoids public pools, is it because of the water or the fear of drowning? Or is it a lifeguard whistle? The only way to find out is to ask. You can literally fish it out of younger children. Tell them to draw two pictures: one is a picture of themselves in a scary situation with a "worry bubble" thought that tells them what they think about themselves. Then ask them to make a second drawing in the same situation, but with a "smart bubble" that has calmer, more realistic thoughts.

A child who fears a teacher's rejection may say, "The teacher will send me to the principal if I forget my homework." But the smart bubble might say, "My friend Alex forgot his homework too and the teacher just asked him to write a memo for himself." -This method helps children make a connection between how they feel when they tell themselves these two very different stories Chansky says. Children who are afraid of natural disasters can also shift into a different mindset by teaching their parents what they learned in school about storms, tornadoes, or earthquakes. This helps reinforce a different way of looking at the situation. Chansi explains that these methods work well for children who are more cognition-oriented. For toddlers who are physically stressed, restless at night, and have trouble sleeping, relaxation techniques may be just one part of the effort.

Lori Light, a certified medical educator, developed her own techniques, which included deep breathing, affirmations, and muscle relaxation. She was able to greatly help her own children, one of whom was hyperactive and chronically ill, the other was experiencing stressful nightmares. The advantage is that you don't have to go to a class, have a degree or a lot of money, all you have to do is turn on a CD or read a book.

General guidelines for any age

When your child is afraid - no matter how old he is, remember to respect his fears. Chansky proposes the following principles:

• Be calm and confident. How you talk to your child about fears is just as important as what you say.
• As you help your toddler face his fears, find out when he feels comfortable. However, do not give him a complete "out". Absolute avoidance is not the answer to anxiety.
• Practically, there are many ways to cope with anxiety: with the help of drawings, pets or role-playing games.
• There must be a reward - big or small.

A certain amount of fear is a sign of health, and understandably so. It keeps us and our children from harm. Parents teach them to be wary of running out onto a busy street, accepting candy from strangers, swallowing unknown substances from a medical closet, etc.

We, in fact, teach kids to be careful, and this is a completely different matter. It is quite different when a child reacts to imaginary rather than real danger, the fear is sometimes so great that it can turn into a disorder.

Helping Your Child Overcome Anxiety and Phobias

It's probably safe to say that every child has fears to one degree or another. Some of these are common childhood fears, while others are not. The role of a parent is to calm a frightened child. The ability to do this well can lead to a child's confidence and security in his current and future life.
A review a few years ago identified the most common human fears, some of them related to children's fears. Here they are:

• dark;
• loneliness;
• evil people;
• refusal;
• errors;
• dogs;
• public performance;
• dentists;
• hospitals (blood);
• spiders;
• exams;
• police.

  Many of these fears, if not recognized and treated properly in childhood, can turn into more serious phobias in adulthood.

Fear of the dark

Fear of the dark usually occurs when parents insist that the child stay in a completely darkened room before going to bed, or when the child wakes up in the middle of the night. Some are so terrified of the dark that their heart rate actually increases. Parents must recognize that the room looks very different when the lights go out, and steps must be taken to reassure the child.

Use a night light, but experiment with its placement to be sure it doesn't create all sorts of intimidating shadows. After the lights have gone out, stay in the room for a few minutes and describe what different things look like: a curtain blowing in the wind. Leave the door to the nursery slightly open and tell him that you will not be far away. If your child wakes up in the middle of the night, don't invite him into your bed, or you risk creating a lasting habit. Instead, comfort the baby in his room and say that you are proud of him. Stay consistent in your approach to his behavior.

Fear of animals

While the fear of animals affects almost all toddlers, it decreases as the child gets older. During these years, a number of approaches can be made to reduce the child's fears. Don't pass on your fear. Explore and then teach your child correct behavior with animals (for example, always approach the dog from the front, where he can see and smell your hand).
Determine the child's fear for him. For example, "Dogs can be scary, but this one lives right next door and she wants to be your friend."

Consider getting a pet and choose one that is smaller than a child. Then let him help with feeding and caring for the animal. Under no circumstances should a child be allowed to tease or abuse a pet. This can provoke an attack or a bite, and then it will take a considerable time before the child's fears can be completely overcome. Do not force the baby to feed the animal. Let him do it in his spare time.

Fear of school and especially kindergarten

School phobia, as it is sometimes called, can have a number of causes, both real and imagined, and it is the parent's responsibility to find out what is causing the problem.
Is it a fear of school or a fear of leaving home? If this is a fear educational institution what exactly is the reason? Fear of riding the school bus? Awe that he will be teased? Each of these possibilities should be considered individually, if necessary with the help of a teacher. Find good friend, a buddy who will share a bus ride or be a playmate at halftime.
If he is afraid to leave the house, make sure the child understands that you will still be there when he returns from school. Discuss every school day with your child, remember pleasant episodes.

Fear of the dentist

Understandably, this is often an unresolved childhood fear, as many adults are afraid to go to the dentist. This is provoked because the child feels that he has absolutely no control over the situation. It's a fact of life that people need to go to the dentist regularly for their fear to be overcome.

Choose your dentist and doctor carefully. If possible, find a pediatric dentist.
Start visiting the dentist's office from early infancy to get used to a simple checkup. Teach your child good oral hygiene so that trips to the dentist are kept to a minimum. Try not to convey your concerns to the dentist to your infant.

Fear of death

Children are usually interested in death. It's okay if the baby doesn't suddenly start worrying that the one he loves is about to die. middle child is not at all afraid of death until the dead man sees it. It was then that he would feel the first signs of his own mortality. Be prepared to discuss death with the child if they wish, but point out to the child that there is no need to worry about it right now. Be honest when someone close to your family dies, either from illness or an accident. Lack of knowledge in a child can cause fear. Make sure he doesn't feel responsible for the death. Sometimes, in anger, people may think, “I hate him. I want him to be dead." If some terrible incident has caused the person to whom the hatred is directed to die, the child may feel guilty. Make sure he knows it's not.

Experts believe that a child must be over five years old before they can attend the funeral, and only if they want to. Parents should present this ceremony as a farewell to the deceased. Perhaps the best thing a father or mother can do when confronted with a child's fears is to acknowledge their childhood fears, particularly if the parent experienced similar fears in childhood. Indicate that they understand how destructive such fears are and that they are ready to give reassurance and comfort whenever the child needs it.