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Children and Fear of the Dark

Most children go through a phase were they are afraid if the dark. This phase can start up out of nowhere or can be brought on by a scary incident such as watching something scary on TV. Usually, this phase starts around the age of two years old but it crop up at any time, even after the age of five.

The first thing to do if your child starts exhibiting signs of being afraid of the dark is to try and determine what brought it on. If it was a scary incident, then you can try to talk to them and clam their fears. If the fear came out of nowhere, then you just need to take steps to ease their fear and help them through the phase.

• Limit scary movies or other traumatic TV viewing. Obviously, scary movies can contain scenes that can cause fear in your child, but seemingly harmless shows such as their favorite cartoons can always contain scenes that your child translates as scary. Another type of program to limit is the news. Often, even though parents think that their children do not understand the news, the scary scenes can be enough to scare your child.

• Talk to your child about their fears. Sometimes just talking out their fears can be enough to ease them. If that doesn't help, you can brainstorm ideas with your child to help them overcome their fear.

• Install a dimmer switch in their room. This idea helps a lot of children deal with their fear of the dark. Start your child's room out relatively bright so that they will not fear being left in the dark all alone. Slowly, over the course of a few weeks, dim the switch until your child is once again sleeping in the dark.
• Teach your child some relaxation techniques that they can use alone in bed to ease their fears. These techniques can include listening to music, counting, daydreaming about their favorite place or even deep breathing exercises. These techniques may take your child awhile to master, but they have acquired these skills they can use them for the rest of their lives when they need to relax.

• Praise their progress. Another great way to encourage your child to overcome his or her fear of the dark is to praise their progress. Each time your child is able to stay in the dark alone for a brief time, praise their accomplishment. The more you praise them the harder they will try to calm their fears.

• Make a monster spray. If your child's fear of the dark stems from a belief that there is a monster in their room, you can make a simple mixture of water and scent and call it a monster be gone spray. Simple put the scented water in a spray bottle, decorate the front with colorful drawings and tell your child that it is magic and it will keep them safe. Have your child keep the monster spray by their bed for use anytime they are afraid.

Whatever you do, do not allow your child to sleep in your bed or agree to sleep in theirs. This habit, once started, is extremely hard to break. Plus, if you offer to be with them in the dark they may begin to believe that there really is something to be afraid of.

By being patient and taking a few simple steps, you can help your child through this phase and teach them some coping techniques and the same time.

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