The right way to deal with your child's thousands of fears

Almost all children face fears, whether tangible or intangible. Some of these fears will be valid, and a few will bring negative psychological effects.

It is the responsibility of parents to guide and help children understand real fears and how to deal with them. There are two main types of fears: "illusions" that originate from children's imagination and some real situations that children encounter that make them haunted and frightened.

1. Visible fear

There are many different ways to deal with real fears, for example, children are afraid of a statue, afraid of strangers, afraid of animals and even afraid of some plants... Parents can guide their children in some things to be able to deal with these fears:

- Reassure your child that you will always be there for them: With patience and calmness, make your child feel safe when they are afraid, let them know that you understand their fear. Parents will always be there for their child whenever they feel afraid, as long as they are calm and trust.

- Teach children to stay away from real dangerous fears such as snakes, poisonous insects, unmuzzled dogs, etc. and to call out the names of their parents or relatives for help whenever they unfortunately encounter these dangerous fears.

2. With invisible fears

- Demonstrate to your child by checking the surrounding areas, showing them that nothing can harm them. Remember, things like noises and even darkness can trigger a child's imagination. Eliminate, find the causes or show how they can be handled to make your child realize there is nothing to be afraid of.

- Teach your child to gradually get used to darkness, heights, or imaginary animals: Using pictures in storybooks, soft toys and games that have more friendly images of their fears, or online videos, emphasize that while some fears are real and exist such as bad people, thieves, dangerous animals that should be avoided, there are many good things in this world that your child will gradually encounter, darkness, noise, strange creatures… not all are dangerous.

All this provides balance on earth, helping us to understand both joy and fear.

- Never leave your child alone in their fears. You need to know that it is normal for children to be afraid of something.

In addition to encouraging, explaining and being there when children are afraid, parents should let them know that these fears are important, it shows that they are growing up and there is no need to be ashamed every time they are afraid of something because all children in the world are afraid or have been afraid of something. What children need to do is to bravely overcome that fear to gradually grow up.

According to Danviet