The problem of children's fears is familiar to many parents. Small children are afraid of Baba Yaga, schoolchildren are afraid of answering at the blackboard, teenagers are afraid of being unattractive to the opposite sex.
Most fears are related to the child’s age and pass over time. However, if fear persists for a long time and brings anxiety not only to the child, but also to the parents, this is a reason to seriously think about it.
In this article, you will learn what kind of daytime and nighttime fears children have, what they are associated with, and how to help your child win the fight against his own fear.
Find out what your child is afraid of at school, whether everything is okay in class or in relationships with peers. To do this, use the application for caring parents “Where are my children”.
Classification of fears in children
As children, most of us experienced fears. Moreover, they were often associated not with real danger, but with our fantasies. Psychologists have identified three main types of fears in preschoolers:
- Fears that arise after experiencing stressful situations (for example, after going to the doctor, being stung by a bee, etc.).
- Fears arising from fantasy. The imagination of preschoolers is so well developed that they involuntarily transfer the events of fairy tales and cartoons into real life, while adding new details.
- Fears arising from suggestion. Sometimes, in an effort to quickly achieve the desired behavior from a child, we intimidate him: “Go to sleep quickly, otherwise a little gray wolf will come and bite you on the side,” “Don’t run far, otherwise someone else’s uncle will take you,” “If you want, stay here, but I'm leaving". Of course, having heard such a warning, the child will most likely comply with your request. However, if we constantly remind a child of the possible danger lurking around every corner, he may develop increased anxiety.
Each age is characterized by certain fears. Babies are afraid of separation from their mother and loud noises. After 7 months, children usually develop a fear of strangers and new surroundings. After 2 years, children may be afraid of doctors, monsters, and loneliness. In preschool age, fears of the dark, punishment, and death may arise. Fears are part of normal child development. There is no need to be afraid or ashamed of this. Our task is to help the child overcome his fear.
Causes of children's fears
- Congenital characteristics, temperament, personality traits (increased emotionality, sensitivity, anxiety).
- Stress. For example, illness, parental divorce, death of a loved one, injury.
- Unfavorable family environment. Parents' scandals, drinking family members, and insufficient attention to the child may be the causes of his anxiety.
- Overprotection. Total control over the child and excessive care can lead to the fact that the child begins to be afraid of everything.
- Mental disorder. If the child's fears are too strong or do not correspond to his age, the help of a specialist is needed.
Consultation for parents “Children’s fears of children 4–5 years old and ways to deal with them”
Lyudmila Sharovarina
Consultation for parents “Children’s fears of children 4–5 years old and ways to deal with them”
A period of a child’s life begins, which we can call the transition from early childhood to preschool . During this period, the child begins to actively develop, begins to discover the world around him through communication with adults and peers.
During the period of 4-5 years, a child develops the most important indicator of personality development - self-esteem, which depends on active communication with the world around him and, first of all, with adults. The child begins to actively copy the behavior of parents and older brothers and sisters, especially behavior that arouses interest among others.
This age is also characterized by the fact that the child’s imagination develops well - a wonderful soil for the emergence of fears .
Fear is considered a natural human state - a protective reaction of a healthy body to certain stimuli. All children are afraid of something. Oddly enough , many fears are necessary for children ; this is a natural factor in development. But if adults have learned over many years to control their fears and interact with them , then children are not protected by knowledge from unknown and frightening things. Therefore, it is important for literate parents to learn to promptly distinguish between moments when the body’s natural reaction threatens to develop into obsession or even a phobia. The topic of children's fears and methods of struggle is much more serious than it seems to adults. We say: “You’re already a big boy, aren’t you ashamed to be afraid of such a small dog (water, cars, a strict neighbor, etc.?” - we often say , about
the child's fears . Whether it's our fears : the health of loved ones, lack of money, a formidable boss, an unfulfilled quarterly plan.
But how a child experiences his childhood fears and methods of struggle in childhood largely depends on how happy and confident he will grow up. And it is within the power of parents to help him .
And today we will look at the most characteristic fears for this age :
1. Fear of the dark:
One of the important childhood fears is fear of the dark . The child's wild imagination develops rapidly and comes up with monsters, scary characters from cartoons, fairy tales, books, hidden in the closet or under the bed. monsters and monsters sitting under the bed, hiding in the closet or under the table. a child , I was terribly afraid to lower my hand while lying in bed. It seemed to me that someone would pull her and drag her away. It's funny now, but then it was scary .
The main condition for combating the fear of the dark and fictional characters is a calm psychological atmosphere in the house. Make it a rule before going to bed to calmly talk with your child in his room, read books, listen to calm music together. Physical contact and gentle words are appropriate. Under no circumstances should you scold a child for being afraid or throw indifferent phrases like this: “There’s nothing to worry about ”
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You need to convince the child that he is completely safe. To do this, you can leave the door to his room open, you can buy a beautiful children's night light , you can also draw or sculpt someone he is afraid of, then give the hero a comic look and laugh at him together.
You can also come up with a fairy tale with this monster, where he takes the role of a positive character and the ending in the fairy tale will be positive. Another method of dealing with the fear of the dark is the game “emotional swing”
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You and your baby run into a dark room; it will be even better if you accompany this with a cheerful whoop and also quickly run out. Thus, the baby, experiencing emotions from negative to positive, will eventually get rid of fear .
2. Claustrophobia ( fear of closed spaces )
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Most often, this fear affects children who do not yet have any brothers or sisters, who have limitations in communicating with peers, and who receive an excessive portion of affection and love suffer from it
The most important thing is that you cannot scold the child for this and you cannot do the opposite, that is, lock him in the room alone. In a child's room, it is necessary to paste the walls in lighter colors, free up the space from unnecessary pieces of furniture, and do not close the door to his room at night.
Specialist in the field of child psyche A. I. Zakharov offers a psychological game “Penetration and exit from the circle”
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The essence of the game is that adults and children stand in a circle, clasp their hands and close their eyes. At the same time, they declare out loud that no one will be able to penetrate their circle - they carefully guard it and there is no place for any daredevils there. This phrase itself subconsciously incites the child to fall into the circle. Players walk outside the circle and try to slip unnoticed under one of the pairs of hands. The one who slipped into the middle loudly claps his hands and everyone opens their eyes in surprise. The second part of the game involves the same way out of the circle.
3. The child is afraid to sleep alone.
Psychologists explain that most likely your love is lacking - he attends kindergarten , all kinds of clubs, sections, parents are at work late - this is where the lack of attention arises. In order to overcome this fear , you can make renovations in the child’s room at his request, i.e. he can choose a bed, bed linen, you can also hang posters on the wall with images of his favorite characters, and offer to take his favorite toy with him. Pay more attention to your baby. Every day, before going to bed, read a fairy tale together - this way the baby will feel protected, needed, loved. Don't be shy to tell him how much you love him, how much you missed him all day.
4. Fear of a man in a white coat.
We all understand perfectly well that this fear arises in a child after an injection, a person in a medical cap and a white coat, or an examination with unpleasant instruments, which leaves the child with an association with unpleasant sensations for a long time. Children begin to be terrified of doctors, and this fear is much stronger and more dangerous than the pain itself caused by the procedure.
To reduce this fear, you can tell your child about the doctor’s work. Play doctor with him, using as many special medical instruments as possible: listen to him, examine the oral cavity, and perform other possible manipulations. Be sure to switch roles with him.
When communicating with the doctor and nurse from the treatment room, be courteous and polite, watch your emotions: smile kindly, behave at ease - the child should see your calmness and confidence that nothing threatens him.
If you visited the dentist or vaccination office, do not forget to praise your baby for his patience and courage, even if his condition was the opposite. After leaving the clinic, try to immediately switch the baby’s attention to other objects: tell him an interesting story, a fairy tale.
5. Fear of punishment
Often adults do not even lay a finger on the child, but treat him too authoritatively and do not allow objections. Or they make excessive demands, and the fear of being rejected and unloved settles in the child’s soul , but for a child there is no worse punishment than this. Strict mom and dad control the child’s life by imposing bans on “anything and everything”
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Thus, over time, the child is simply afraid to take an extra step, meet new peers on the playground , or play with a new toy.
Even the most harmless punishment of a child can lead to unexpected consequences. Thanks to measures to lock a naughty baby in a dark room, closet or other place with little light, he may develop several fears : fear of confined spaces , darkness, loneliness, the appearance of nightmares in his sleep.
In addition, such punishments break the child’s psychological connection with adults; he feels alienation from his parents , which in the future can lead to problems in marriage for an adult.
It is worth remembering that any mistake of a child is, first of all, a parental omission in upbringing. And that means you need to punish yourself, not him. Any reproach should always be expressed in the form of love for the baby. Otherwise, he will begin to associate the evil mother with Baba Yaga from a fairy tale, and his father with the Serpent Gorynych, which will give rise , in addition to the above fears , also fantasy ones.
To overcome the fear of punishment - of course, provided that the parents change their behavior - outdoor games are shown. (eg: Tag, Zhmurki)
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Game: "Angry Duckling"
It is very useful to gradually remove emotional inhibition by acting out pantomime scenes with the child in which he will play the role of an angry character.
For example, a duckling (it’s not difficult to transform into one; if you stretch your lips forward, you’ll get a funny duck’s beak). Let the baby show how the duckling is angry, and then figure out who he is angry with. Naturally, the show should be accompanied by cheers and applause from adults. For example, a duckling wants to catch a worm (a string that is pulled by one of the relatives, and the worm crawls away. The duckling is angry (the child frowns , stamps his foot, clenches his fists, etc.)
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Let's now summarize. We have already understood that any childhood fears can be dealt with using various methods, the most popular of which are Play Therapy and Art Therapy.
Play therapy:
a way to combat fears with the help of games , an excellent way to lift your spirits, get rid of complexes, depression and stiffness. However, it is not worth continuing the game for more than 30 minutes if it is a moving and active game - there is absolutely no need to overstimulate the nervous system. One type of play therapy is role-playing play. Come up with a plot based on this or that fear , choose the main character - let the kid pick him up, and play from beginning to end, putting in the final the result that you are going to in the fight . (For example, your baby is a super hero who bravely fights the darkness and saves you from it.)
Art therapy:
(this includes drawing, sculpting, and appliques - in short, everything that is created with your own hands) is an equally wonderful way to overcome your fears by drawing or sculpting. At the same time, fine motor skills will be involved. Invite your child to draw what he is most afraid of, let him say what he is drawing (or sculpting from clay, plasticine)
. Then invite the child to sketch, tear, if it is clay, roll into a ball what he has done and throw it in the trash. Or you don’t have to break it or throw it away - try changing the drawing, turning it into a more colorful and kinder character with whom you can make friends.
And at the very end, I want to remind you that your love, warmth, participation, attention to your child’s fears , joint search for a solution to the problem that has arisen, support for the baby is the best medicine. Under no circumstances should you brush off your little one’s requests, don’t close your eyes and say: “This is nonsense! There is no problem, I don’t see it - you came up with everything!”
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And certainly in this case it is impossible to scold, to fight by contradiction. Most fears can be overcome together, without the help of specialists. This is especially true for age-related fears . Here it is enough to switch attention and involve him in a game aimed at getting rid of the fear of something, so that the baby “switches”
and over time overcomes his fear.
How to help your child overcome fear
As we have already said, fears in childhood are normal. But while they may seem funny and stupid to us, for a child this is a real problem. Let your child feel that you can be trusted, do not laugh at his fears. If you want to help your child overcome fear, do not ignore it, listen to your baby, let him know that he is safe.
Next, we will take a closer look at the most common fears in preschool children and ways to overcome them.
Fear of the dark
Most of us are afraid of the dark. In the dark, children feel defenseless and fear of the unknown appears. To reduce your child's anxiety before bed, leave the hallway door open or turn on a night light. Let your child control the lighting in his room. To make your child friends with the dark, go for walks in the dark, discuss what interesting things can be seen in the dark (stars, fireflies, etc.).
Scary dreams
In addition to daytime fears, psychologists pay attention to the existence of nightmares. These are scary dreams that can recur. Children dream of monsters and terrible events. Typically, nightmares appear against the background of daytime fears. Such children ask to leave the light on at night, strive to be closer to their parents, cry out and move restlessly in their sleep.
It is possible to protect your child from such unpleasant experiences. To do this, you need to avoid the following events before going to bed:
- parents' quarrels;
- punishments, threats;
- computer and outdoor games, TV;
- refusal to read before bed, hug or kiss the child.
Fear of monsters
To make it clear to a child that monsters do not exist, you should not try to explain it logically. For a child, his fantasies seem much more real than your arguments. Before going to bed, look with your child under the bed and in all other places where, in your child’s opinion, a monster might be hiding. A fun ritual that drives away monsters can help a child get rid of fear. You can also try to describe the monster so that it seems funny and absurd to the child. Funny can't be scary.
Fears based on the characteristics of the child’s personality and general well-being.
Excitable, vulnerable, sensitive and impressionable children, as well as those who are physically weakened, are all more susceptible to the above fears, so it is extremely important for parents to take this into account.
This is where the answer to the question lies: why, in the same situation, one child is not afraid, while the other simply shakes with fear. Here, such puzzles as the child’s personality, his temperament, the stability and strength of the nervous system, his knowledge base and past experience came together.
This is interesting: Children's fears - how to help a child?
Nightmares
Children often don't want to go to bed because they're afraid they'll have a nightmare. Psychologists believe that dreams are in many ways a reflection of our lives. The cause of nightmares may be the child’s negative emotional state. Try to protect your child from an overabundance of information and impressions, from swearing and scandals, praise the child more. To make your baby fall asleep easier, spend more time outdoors. Stay next to him until he falls asleep, put his favorite toy next to him. If your child has nightmares too often, you should seek help from a specialist. To deal with this problem, you can attend individual sessions with a psychologist in children's. Sand therapy will also help relieve anxiety and overcome a child’s fears.
According to research, the most common characters in nightmares among preschool children are the Wolf and Baba Yaga. These characters are the personification of evil, strict, irritable adults whom the child is afraid of in real life.
Diagnostics
Children do not know how and are often afraid to talk about their fears. But their manifestations can be easily noticed by observing the child’s behavior, analyzing his drawings, fairy tales, dreams, and games.
Diagnostic options
:
- Drawing on a given or arbitrary topic.
- Ask them to come up with and tell a story about their fear.
- Confidential conversation.
- Questionnaires. Standardized methods are focused on the study of children's fears.
- Projective diagnostic methods. Methods with the absence of structured questions and answers, drawing methods, diagnostic fairy tales.
Diagnostic methods are selected according to age criteria, goals and objectives of diagnosis, as well as taking into account the developmental characteristics of the child.
Of course, the most reliable and complete information about fears, their causes and methods of correction can be obtained by visiting a consultation with a psychologist. If you notice nervousness, moodiness, or obvious manifestations of fear in your child, make an appointment with a specialist.
Fear of separation from a significant adult
Parents (or people replacing them) are the closest and dearest people to a child. When a parent leaves somewhere, the baby fears that mom or dad may not return to him. This situation often arises when a child just starts going to kindergarten and goes through a period of adaptation. To help your child cope with separation anxiety, when you go somewhere, be sure to say goodbye to him, explain where you are going and when you will return, otherwise the baby may think that he was abandoned. If you keep your promises and come on time, the child will understand that his loved one always returns to him, and will no longer be afraid of your leaving.
Fears based on the child's traumatic experience or neurotic fears.
They are the most powerful and difficult to eradicate. If you do not provide such a child with timely help, the situation may become complicated, even to the point of personality collapse.
So, having experienced some kind of tragedy or violence, a child will carry this memory throughout his life. If this moment coincides with some kind of age-related fear, or the child himself is very vulnerable, or there is no trust in the parents, the effect of fear intensifies.
In this case, the perception of oneself as an integral, self-sufficient person may be distorted, and various behavioral stereotypes that are not typical for a child may appear (motor, vocal tics, encopresis, enuresis, etc.) .
In more severe cases, when fear exceeds the body's capabilities, the child may lose touch with reality.
Fear of loneliness
Some babies get used to being inseparable from their mother and are afraid to be left alone even for a short time. To help your child overcome fear, start teaching him to be alone (in the good sense of the word). When your child learns to play alone, gradually move away from him. First it may be the other end of the room, then the next room. Leave for a short time so that the baby does not have time to get scared. Over time, your child will get used to your temporary absence.
You can help your child get rid of fears only if you understand how serious this problem is for the child. Remember that your baby expects acceptance and support from you.
Causes
Family
Parents must realize one simple truth: most often, children's fear is a consequence of their own incorrect behavior: overprotection, anxiety, constant busyness at work, lack of care and love. Yes, it can originate outside the family: in kindergarten, on the street, at someone’s house. But it takes root only under the influence of parental reaction. If the situation is ridiculed, not taken seriously, or ignored altogether, this subsequently contributes to the development of a deeper and more difficult to eradicate phobia.
When relatives (parents, family) are to blame:
- Relatives are very and constantly afraid of something.
- Constant reminders to the child of how scared he was of something, ridicule of this situation.
- Overly domineering, authoritarian behavior of parents.
- Lack of heart-to-heart conversations.
- The constant presence of a frightening factor.
- Loneliness: the only child in the family, no friends, parents constantly at work.
- Punishment for any emotion (you cannot scream, laugh loudly, cry).
- Misunderstanding on the part of parents.
- Overprotection.
- Incomplete, dysfunctional, closed family.
In these cases, to help the child overcome fear, parents must radically change their behavior.
Psychotrauma
The second block of factors contributing to the development of phobias is a psychotraumatic situation based on severe fear. It could be anything:
- sudden loud scream;
- panic of one of the adults;
- raised voices in the family;
- animal or insect bite;
- falling from height;
- severe physical injury;
- accident;
- death and funeral of someone close;
- disaster.
If a child is brought up in a positive, calm environment, in such situations he experiences a short-term emotion. If the parents behave correctly (don’t focus on it, calm it down, distract it, try to forget), it disappears and leaves no trace. Otherwise, it transforms into a phobia and becomes a psychotraumatic situation, giving rise to various mental disorders and internal complexes.
Physiology
The causes of childhood fears also include:
- younger age: the fewer years, the more there are;
- gender: girls are afraid more often than boys;
- age of parents: the older, the more fearful;
- intrauterine fear if the mother experienced a traumatic situation during pregnancy;
- organic brain diseases and traumatic brain injuries, which can have a pathological effect on fantasy;
- overly sensitive type of nervous system;
- lack of physical activity;
- heredity.
The mechanism of development of fears under the influence of physiology is the least studied and is based mainly on hypotheses. For example, none of the specialists today can explain why a child born to parents who are not yet 30 years old has much fewer phobias and anxiety states than one born when mom and dad have crossed this age limit . However, this is a scientifically proven fact.
Or, for example, a hereditary factor. Genetics cannot yet answer why some phobias are inherited. A child who has never seen a spider in his life and does not know whether they are dangerous or not screams in horror if one of the parents suffers from arachnophobia. Why this happens remains to be seen.
Other reasons
Excessive imagination
A passion for fantastic cartoons and books, horror films can generate in the child’s mind the existence of an other world, parallel to reality. Against the backdrop of a rich imagination, this is fraught with insomnia and elementary everyday cowardice. The fear of sleeping without light, going alone to another room, looking into a closet or basement become real psychologically traumatic situations. Any shadow on the wall is perceived as a monster, any rustle - as the presence of ghosts.
Social maladjustment
Any interpersonal conflict outside the home can turn into a persistent fear of further communication and new acquaintances for a child. The reason can be the most insignificant situation - a casually thrown offensive word, public ridicule, a rude remark from a teacher or teacher. In the future, this will manifest itself in stiffness and autism.
Constant pressure
The reason may be present both in the family and in the social environment outside the home (in kindergarten, school, yard company). If a child constantly hears about a specific terrible event (murder, death, fire), he develops a persistent fear of it. Preschoolers, for example, often invent monsters for themselves and try to lighten their burden by scaring others with them. The phenomenon of a chain reaction is known, when children in a kindergarten group were afraid of the same monster, which turned out to be a figment of the imagination of one of the girls. Such situations are far from uncommon.
Mental disorders
Fears are common in children suffering from various diseases of the nervous system and psyche. If they are not recognized by adults in time, they can develop into serious pathologies. The most common cause is neuroses.
Copying a reaction
Psychotherapists believe that the society surrounding the child is most often to blame for instilling children's fears. When faced with an emergency situation, he looks at the reactions of other people - parents, peers, adults. Depending on whether it is frightened or calm, he develops a stable pattern of behavior. Next time he will react to her the same way.
This is proven by a study conducted in one of the kindergartens. The participants were of senior preschool age. A rare animal of an unusual species was brought to the zoo of this city - an aardvark (an exotic earth pig). In the first group, during classes, the teachers showed photographs of this animal and, touching them, told how cute, kind and sociable it is. The second one was told exactly the opposite - how dangerous, aggressive and uncontrollable a predator he is that attacks a person.
After 2 weeks of such work, the children were taken to the zoo. As one would expect, the kids of the first group were moved by the unusual animal, like their teachers, they wanted to pet it and did not experience any fear. The preschoolers of the second group did not even approach his cage, they huddled close to the adults, and some girls squealed when the animal tried to get closer.
Fear of animals
Children, like adults, can be afraid of animals. This fear is completely justified, because we don’t know what to expect from other people’s pets. You should not ignore such fears and laugh at your child if he is afraid of any animal. Try to support him. Show your child an example of interacting with animals. But don't expect quick results. The child will get rid of fear if for some time he sees you calmly petting your neighbor’s dog. Tell us what you can and cannot treat our little brothers.
Fear of death
Preschool age is the time when a child begins to become aware of things related to death. Children may spot a dead animal on the street, accidentally hear about someone's death in an adult conversation, or experience the death of a loved one. Realizing that all living things eventually die, a child can experience extreme stress. If the child himself talks about the fact that he is upset by someone’s death, you have a great chance to help the child deal with his fear. Don’t hide from the answer, explain to your child that death is something that happens to everyone and there is no need to be afraid of it. If a stressful event related to death has occurred in a child’s life, but the child does not talk about his experiences, encourage him to express his feelings through creativity (art therapy, sand therapy, skozkotherapy) and play. The fear of death in a preschool child may not appear immediately after a traumatic event. Be attentive to your child, show delicacy.
What are children afraid of at different ages?
During mother's pregnancy
Yes, yes, the child becomes familiar with the feeling of fear during intrauterine development, when the mother experiences severe anxiety. The released portion of hormones passes through the placenta from mother to child, and in response to this, the baby may exhibit severe motor restlessness - pushing, kicking. This is how he reacts to fear.
In the first months of life
Anxiety in infants is often associated with unmet physiological needs. Later, the need for emotional contact with mom appears. If the mother is strict, unkind, rarely approaches and smiles at the child, he becomes capricious and restless. Babies are also afraid of separation from their mother, strangers and loud noises.
From 1 year to 3 years
The child grows, and with him his motor activity and desire to understand the world grow. And suddenly an affectionate and kind mother begins to forbid him something, limit his freedom, and raise her voice. Naturally, the child in this situation begins to experience anxiety and restlessness.
If adults maintain a balance between what is possible and what is not, the child grows up calm and self-confident. He gets his first experience of the dangers of the world around him (fire burns, ice is cold, if you pinch your finger in a door it will hurt) and learns to avoid them.
If in a child’s life there are only restrictions and prohibitions, overprotection reigns in the family, then the child grows up anxious and dependent, afraid of his own shadow.
Babies also have a strong fear of pain. Hence the whims and hysterics before going to the doctor, the fear of injections and other surgical interventions.
From 4 to 5 years
By the age of 4, children develop fears of fairy-tale characters (Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, the Wolf and others). The fear of these creatures is associated with disturbing relationships between the child and adults, primarily in the family. Baba Yaga is the image of an evil, cruel, uncompromising woman. Koschey the Immortal is rude, stingy, heartless. The wolf is aggressive and dangerous.
Children are also afraid of the dark, afraid to fall asleep and be left alone at home. This is due to the fact that a child, left without parents, feels that he cannot independently protect himself from the dangers surrounding him.
From 6 to 7 years
At older preschool age, children begin to fear death. Both your own and the death of your parents.
Fears of darkness and loneliness also remain strong. The fear of fairy-tale characters is replaced by the fear of ghosts, monsters, aggressive cartoon characters and computer games.
From 8 to 11 years
By the time a child goes to school, the number of his fears decreases.
But so-called “school” fears appear: being late for school, answering incorrectly at the blackboard, fear of a strict teacher and classmates.
There is even the term “school phobia” - an obsessive fear of going to school. Often this fear is due to the fact that the overprotected child experiences separation from his parents while at school and doubts his ability to cope with all school tasks.
Parents can also unknowingly contribute to the development of “school phobia” by constantly monitoring the child’s homework and scolding him for poor grades.
Also, younger schoolchildren are afraid of not meeting social requirements: being a bad student, an unreliable friend, an unloved son or daughter.
In addition to “school” fears, children at this age are afraid of natural disasters: hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, as well as the dead and ghosts.
Find out what your child is afraid of at school, whether everything is okay in class or in relationships with peers. To do this, use the application for caring parents “Where are my children”.
From 11 to 16 years old
During adolescence, children undergo active puberty, their figure and voice change, and their body weight increases or decreases. Therefore, many begin to experience the fear of change, the fear of being ugly, ugly, unattractive to the opposite sex.
The fear of death reaches its peak at this age. Children are afraid of war, serious illness, or a terrorist attack.
“Social” fears also reach their peak: fear of ridicule, condemnation, rejection by peers, and even bullying.
Girls are more susceptible to fear than boys due to their impressionability and emotional vulnerability.
In adolescence, as in preschool: the stricter and more intolerant parents are towards their child, the more fears he has.
Fears contribute to the appearance of self-doubt, isolation, increased anxiety and depressive thoughts in a teenager.
conclusions
So, we have listed for you the fears that are most often found in preschool children. Some of them may seem insignificant and even funny. But believe me, this is a serious experience for a child. In a calm environment, talk to your baby about what is bothering him. Try to make him feel safe. Playing out stressful situations, drawing your fears, fairytale therapy and sand therapy will help you get rid of your fears.
