When children's fears appear. What to do if a child has a feeling of fear? Psychologist's advice to parents. Unbridled fantasy is a common cause of fears

Any of us from time to time experiences such feelings as fear, anxiety, worry - this is a completely normal phenomenon, one of the aspects of human mental activity. But adults have the knowledge and experience with which they can reduce or eradicate their fears and experiences, but what about fears in children?

Indeed, due to age, children still do not know and do not understand much, therefore they experience certain events much more acutely. Something that seriously scares a child may seem like a trifle to an adult. Parents do not always think about the fact that fear actually makes the baby experience real emotions that negatively affect his mental state.

Children's fears are based on the information that children receive from the people around them, and then their fantasy and imagination play out. The older the child becomes, the wider his horizons and the clearer the awareness of a large number of dangers that lie in wait at every step. Therefore, fears often grow with the child.

Parents should not neglect the fears of their children and let everything take its course, because often neurotic manifestations in adulthood are associated precisely with fears that originate from childhood. Problems need to be dealt with, and in order to do this effectively, you must first find out the cause of the fear.

Causes of children's fears

• specific case, experienced traumatic situation

The most common cause of children's fears is a previously experienced specific situation that frightened the child. For example, if a dog has once bitten a baby, there is a high probability that in the future he will begin to be afraid of them. Of course, not all children who are bitten by dogs subsequently experience intense fear of them.

Much depends on the nature of the child and his environment. But in any case, this kind of fear (fear of repeating the situation) is the easiest to correct.

• inspired fear

The source of inspired fear is usually an adult (grandmother, mother, teacher, etc.), who warns the child too emotionally about the danger, thereby only scaring him: “Do not touch - you will burn yourself”, “Do not run - you will fall”, etc. d. As a result, the child involuntarily focuses attention only on the last part of the phrase.

He still does not understand what this or that action threatens him with, but he is already experiencing fear and anxiety, which can subsequently spread to similar life situations. It is necessary to eliminate this kind of childhood fear, since a phobia can haunt a person all his life.

• fantasies

Another most common cause of children's fear is their own fantasy. Well, which of us in childhood was not afraid of the dark, who did not see scary monsters under the bed and outside the window? Many were afraid and frightened, but someone easily coped with the problem and outgrew it, while someone remained to live with his fear.

• family conflicts

• conflicts with other children

Often the cause of children's fears are difficult relationships with peers. If a child is not accepted in a team, offended, beaten, called names, it is quite obvious that he will not want to go to kindergarten, school for fear of being humiliated. Also, older children may bully younger children with scary stories or physical abuse. You can solve the problem with a fighting baby by reading the information

• overprotection

The only children in the family, who are the center of worries and anxieties for their parents, are highly susceptible to fears. Parents with their overprotection only prevent the child from developing normally and inspire him with a lot of unnecessary fears and worries, making the child's psyche more vulnerable.

• mental disorders

If a child has fears that are not characteristic of his age, or anxiety and anxiety because of his fears are so pronounced that they make parents wary, we can talk about such an ailment as neurosis. Specialists are engaged in the treatment of neuroses.

Types of children's fears

There are several types of children's fears:

• obsessive fears

The child usually experiences such fears in some specific situations that cause him to panic. For example, fear of heights, closed space, crowds, etc.

• delusional fears

Such fears cannot be explained logically. Their presence in a child indicates problems with the psyche and needs treatment. For example, a child is afraid to wear certain clothes, play with a certain toy, go to a certain place...

• overvalued fears

The most common type of fear encountered when working with children. It is the product of a child's imagination. For example, when a kid is afraid of the dark, inventing that his room is teeming with monsters and monsters, or he is afraid to swim because a babayka will come out of the tap. Such fear is dangerous because over time it completely takes over the thoughts of the child, which affects his mental state.

• real fears

Real fears are called, which are the result of the manifestation of the instinct of self-preservation in the event of danger.

• neurotic

This type of fear is directly related to a disease such as neurosis.

• free

Such fear is characterized by a certain state of expectation of the appearance of danger, which is not related to a specific situation or object.

• age fears

There are children's fears that are considered normal up to a certain age, and then disappear on their own with the correct and harmonious development of the child.

0-6 months - loud noises, unexpected and abrupt actions, absence of a mother can scare the baby
6 months - 1 year - loud noises, new faces, abrupt change of scenery
1-2 years - separation from parents, nightmares, strangers, doctors, fear of injury
2-2.5 years - separation from parents, fear of their loss or rejection on their part, unfamiliar children of the same age, nightmares, thunder, downpour, hail, etc.
2.5-3 years - bulky items (refrigerator, washing machine, etc.), change of scenery, emergency events (parents' divorce, death of relatives)
3-5 years - animals, insects, natural disasters, nightmares, diseases, doctors, criminals
6-7 years - fear of loneliness, loss of parents, physical punishment and violence, depth, fears associated with study and school, fear of fairy-tale characters (ghosts, witches and monsters)
7-8 years - natural disasters and catastrophes, dark rooms, loneliness, rejection of peers, parents, teachers, fears associated with school, fear of physical violence
8-9 years - fear of losing their parents, rejection on their part, physical abuse, failure at school, exposure to bad behavior or lies,
9-11 years old - fear of heights, depths, diseases, criminals, some animals, fear of not meeting the expectations of parents and teachers
11-14 years old - fear of severity and criticism from parents and teachers, illness and death, violence, rejection of one's appearance, loss of people and things dear to the heart

Treatment of fears in children

With the correct and full development of the child, all age-related fears usually disappear by the age of 16. But the opinion is erroneous that a child should not have fears at all. As the cognitive activity of a growing person grows and increases, it is simply not possible to avoid feelings of anxiety and fear.

But, as they say, everything should be in moderation. And if fears interfere with the normal life of the child, they must be fought. Fears originating in childhood, but not eradicated over time, can eventually lead to very negative consequences and result in problems in communication, study, aggression, complexes, neurotic manifestations, difficulties in social adaptation.

Therefore, parents need to notice the fears that their child has in time, assess the degree of their influence on the baby and try to help the child or seek a solution to the problem from specialists. Particular attention should be paid to overly vulnerable, sensitive and impressionable children, because they are most often subject to fear.

How can you help your child deal with their fears?

General principles and approaches:

First of all, parents need to listen to their children: talk to them about their pressing matters, ask about problems, anxieties and feelings, help in case of difficulties.

But do not insist if the child is not ready to open up, this can scare him away. In such a case, parents should take the tactics of observation and ask leading questions from time to time.

Always let your children know that they are loved by you and under your protection, no matter what. Kids need to be confident in their parents, that you can always stand up for them.

Read more good and kind fairy tales and stories with a happy ending. Watch cartoons on similar topics.
Find additional activities and hobbies for your child: give them to sports, drawing, swimming, singing. This will allow you to take your free time, throw out emotions and energy in the right direction, communicate more, share experiences with other children.

Limit your viewing of TV, news and programs with tragic plots, horror films and thrillers.

Effective ways to deal with children's fears

• a game

Among the many methods and methods aimed at combating children's fears, gaming techniques have been especially popular in recent years. The game is not a dream alone, it is an active and most importantly joint activity. In the form of a game, not only knowledge is easier to assimilate, but also many habits and skills.

Children begin to imperceptibly correct their behavior, thereby overcoming psychological difficulties. Games are role-playing (each person plays a specific role), subject (playing with an object) and mixed type (subject-role-playing), organized (having clear rules) and spontaneous (without rules).

With the help of this technique, situations that cause stress in the child are played, which allows them to live in an imaginary reality, respond correctly to them and thereby free themselves from negative experiences. The main thing is that in such games fiction is combined with reality, with an emphasis on positive aspects.

Just don't make it a chore. There is no need to insist on them. The child should want to deal with his own problem. In the absence of desire, the method will be ineffective. It is necessary to interest the child so that he looks forward to the next game.

Since fears in children are different, then the tactics of behavior of parents should change depending on the type of fear. It is necessary to offer the baby different options for games and activities in which he can emotionally cleanse himself, playing and overcoming his fear.

• drawing

Drawing is also a very productive way to deal with childhood experiences. Drawings reflect the emotions, interests, experiences and character of a person. When depicting an object that causes anxiety, there is a decrease in negative emotions associated with the expectation of something frightening.

With the help of drawing, the object of fear goes through certain stages, gradually losing its horror and becoming less and less significant, or turning into a significant one with a plus sign. After all, the fear depicted on paper is something that has already happened, and therefore does not pose a danger. Before starting to work with fears using this method, draw with your child on abstract topics.

Only then ask him to depict his fear on a sheet. Discuss the drawing, ask the child about their fear, and then try to present the fear in a positive light using humor. Agree that the phobia needs to be eradicated, and how, only the baby can decide. You can erase the drawing with an eraser, tear it into pieces, throw it in the trash or burn it.

Be sure to make sure that the child is no longer afraid. If so, praise him for his courage and determination, because it is so important to feel the support and approval from the parents. Fix the result by drawing on the topic of a brighter future, for example: What do I want to become.

The kid will depict his future on the sheet without fears and worries, for which he will again need to be praised.
Even if the fear does not completely go away with the help of drawing, it will become much weaker, because the child will begin to feel much more confident. After a while, you can repeat the lesson.

• fairy tale therapy

A very young, but already quite successful area of ​​practical psychology is fairy tale therapy. After all, it is in fairy tales that the impossible becomes possible. In them, you can safely dream, build images and achieve what you want, as well as destroy and eliminate what hinders the implementation of your plan.

Having gained experience in solving problems with the help of fairy-tale characters, the child will be able to transfer it to real life. Thus, having beaten fear in a fairy tale and getting rid of it in a mythical way, the child may well cease to be afraid of him in real life.

What Not to Do

In no case do not scold or punish the child for his fears, even if they seem trifling to you.

Do not mock the baby, trying to see pretense or whim in his actions, as well as calling him a coward or a boyak. You hang a stigma on a person, which is then very difficult to get rid of. In addition, after such behavior, the child may stop trusting you.

Do not try to force the child to experience fear: do not throw him into the water if he is afraid of the depth, do not ask to pet the dog if he shied away from them, etc. So you can only harm and contribute to a deeper penetration of fear into the mind of the child.

It is important to realize that the feeling of fear and anxiety is inherent in all people and should not be afraid of it. Parents should accept their children as they are with all their problems. After all, if a close person is nearby, always ready to help and protect, it becomes only a matter of time to overcome your phobias.

From mom and dad, all you need is care and support, the ability to listen and take action, finding the right approach to your child. If the child cannot get rid of fears on his own, remember that the child must be shown to a specialist.

There is no child in the world who would not be afraid of anything, even babies up to a year old are subject to fear. According to psychologists, children's fears and nightmares are normal at the stages of development and socialization of a child, so parents do not need to worry if their child suddenly becomes afraid to enter a dark room or refuses to read a fairy tale about a monster.

Do not forget that any fear sooner or later can develop into a pathology. To prevent this, parents should know the main points related to childhood phobias, namely: what they are, what can cause them to occur, and how to help the baby cope with such a problem.

Why does the child begin to feel fear?

In the book of the professor and doctor of psychological sciences Zakharov Alexander Ivanovich "Day and night fears in children" it is said that while the child is still small, he is not able to build a chain of logical reasoning. As a result, the baby believes what the parents say, and completely transfers any of their reactions in a given situation to himself.

In playgrounds, you can often hear excited shouts: "Don't run so fast - you'll fall!", "Get out of there - you'll hit!", "Don't touch the dog - it will bite!" It is precisely such emotional and sometimes too harsh intimidation and warnings about possible danger from relatives that become the main cause of children's fears. The most interesting thing is that most often children are afraid not of what happened, but of an overly violent reaction to what is happening among people close and dear to him.

Other Causes of Phobias in Children

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In addition to the influence of parents, there are other reasons that lead to the appearance of children's fear:

1. A specific incident that scared a child. For example, an animal bite, a painful injection in the doctor's office, an accident on the road, or an unfortunate fall from a bicycle. Of course, persistent fear does not appear in every child. Suspicious, insecure and shy children are more prone to the emergence of a phobia.
2. Children's imagination. All little dreamers are masters at inventing monsters in the closet or under the bed, ghosts, ghosts and other different monsters. However, some children after a while will not even remember the terrible fiction, and some will cry and become terribly afraid of being alone.
3. Emotionally unstable family environment. Constant scandals, quarrels, screams and lack of understanding between family members, as well as hyper-custody or lack of psychological support, negatively affect the baby’s condition, causing him an ongoing sense of anxiety, which in the future can develop into children’s fear.
4. Relationships among peers. If the baby is often humiliated, insulted and ridiculed in kindergarten or school, he may develop a social phobia. He will flatly refuse to go to classes or to a group.
5. neuroses. Fears in children that are unusual for their age or turn into pathology are neuroses (we recommend reading:). Only doctors can diagnose and treat such serious disorders.

To find out the cause of children's fear, you need to take a closer look at the child's close environment, objectively assess the situation within the family. Children are very sensitive and prone to exaggeration, so any quarrel for them can be a shock.

Varieties of children's fears

Currently, there are four main types of phobias in preschoolers, children 6-8 years old and older. Most experts in this field adhere to the classification of children's fears according to certain characteristics:

• object of fear;
• duration and intensity;
• features of the course of children's fear;
• the reasons that provoked the appearance.

Obsessive and delusional fears

Obsessive fears are directly related to the circumstances that led to their appearance, that is, such childhood fears arise in absolutely certain cases. For example, acrophobia is the fear of heights or claustrophobia is the fear of closed spaces.

The appearance of a delusional fear in a baby can be quite difficult to explain, and even more so to find out the reason why such a disorder arose. Delusional fears include the fear of wearing specific shoes, opening an umbrella, or even playing with a specific toy. However, parents whose toddler has a delusional fear problem should not immediately panic. It happens that the source of children's fear is on the surface. For example, a baby may be terribly afraid to put on a jacket, because one day, while zipping, he accidentally pinched his skin.

Crazy fears include the fear of heights or open space. Such phobias, however, may well pass along with the baby into adulthood.

Overvalued and nighttime fears in children

The most common fears in preschool children are overvalued fears. In almost 90% of cases out of 100, it is they who disturb the baby. Most often, children of preschool and primary school age are afraid of the dark, loneliness, death, fairy-tale characters and animals (more in the article:). Kids are absolutely sure that their fears are justified, sincerely believing that a terrible monster is hiding in a dark place or that it is not safe to be alone without parents. Gradually, such beliefs begin to dominate the mind of the crumbs and carry the status of an overvalued idea.

Night terrors got their name as a result of the fact that fearful states in a child appear at night during sleep. About 2-3% of children suffer from nightmares. Such nocturnal states are accompanied by throwing, screaming, groaning and crying. Sometimes a child can talk in a dream - for example, ask not to be touched, let him go or put something away. More often, the baby calls her mother to her, but at the same time she does not recognize her. Within a few minutes, the little one will calm down and continue to sleep, and in the morning he will not even remember about the night incident. In rare cases, against the background of night fears, the child has somnambulism.

Monsters or fabulous creatures that "visit" the child at night or in his fantasies are absolutely real for the baby's consciousness.

Age features of phobias in a child

In fact, the emergence of childhood fear is an integral and quite natural component of growing up. At a certain age, the presence of specific phobias is the norm - in this way the child is preparing to meet the real world. Below is a table in which children's fears are distributed according to the age of the baby.

Age limits for the manifestation of children's fear:

Child's age	What scares children
0-6 months	loud noises, such as falling chairs, jerky movements, mom not being around, or sudden changes in her mood
7 months - 1 year	loud continuous noises, such as the operation of a blender or the hum of a vacuum cleaner, unfamiliar strangers, unusual situations or a change in the usual environment
1-2 years	getting injured, because at this age the baby learns new motor skills, a long separation from mom or dad (it is better to postpone going to kindergarten)
2-3 years	alienation from close relatives on an emotional level, nightmares, natural phenomena - like thunder, thunder and lightning
3-5 years	death of one's own or parents, as a result of which children begin to fear everything that can lead to it: diseases, fires, accidents, snake bites
5-7 years	fairy-tale characters and fictional monsters, which leads to the fact that the child seeks not to be completely alone; school phobias associated with entering first grade
7-8 years old	being late for class, not doing homework, getting a bad grade or reprimand, rejection by peers, dark places, basements and attics, disasters
8-11 years old	academic and sports failures, criminals, drug addicts, drunk people, physical abuse severe illness
11-13 years old	the ability to look like a failure, ugly or stupid in the eyes of others, especially among their friends and peers, violence that is sexual in nature

Diagnosis of fears in children

Before dealing with phobias in children, they need to be properly diagnosed.

If you notice some nervousness, excessive capriciousness, sleep disturbance and the emergence of obsessive habits in the child’s behavior, seek help from a psychologist or psychotherapist. He will diagnose with the subsequent correction of the identified children's fear.

When children are still very young, they are not able to accurately describe and explain what exactly worries them. This is the main difficulty in the psychological diagnosis of children's fears. For high-quality diagnosis, the usual activities for kids are used:

1. Drawing. These can be drawings on a given or completely arbitrary topic. Analyzing the received pictures, experts pay attention to the location of the elements, the clarity of the lines, the shading and the color scheme that the kid used when drawing. An older child can already be asked to portray the fear being tested.
2. Inventing a fairy tale. A five-year-old baby can be asked to come up with a fairy tale about a favorite hero or his own end to a story that was interrupted at the most terrible place.
3. Intimate talk. Confidential conversation is relevant for a child older than 4 years. Find out if the child is afraid of any specific objects, phenomena, death, people, characters from a fairy tale, or if he has nightmares. During the conversation, do not focus on the moments that concern the child, let the conversation proceed in a calm atmosphere. Do not forget to morally support and positively set up the baby.

Drawings are successfully used to diagnose the mental state of a child. According to the color scheme, the location of the elements and their sizes, the specialist can easily find out what worries the baby.

How to help your child overcome fear

After identifying and diagnosing children's fear, the stage of treatment and correction begins with the help of specialists. In modern psychology, there is a wide variety of approaches and methods of how to deal with children's fears. They can be applied separately, sequentially or simultaneously. An important aspect of any therapy and correction is consistency with the wishes of the baby. If the little one does not like to draw, do not insist too much, much less force it.

Fairy tale therapy and game therapy

By reading fairy tales with your child, you thereby contribute to the knowledge of the structure of the world and help him understand his own feelings. The choice of a fairy tale directly depends on the nature of the problem. Try to read and present everything in such a way that throughout the fairy tale the baby feels strong and courageous. For fairy tale therapy, the stories of Nosov, Dragunsky, Anderson's fairy tales are perfect. The option of composing their own exciting story by the parents is also not ruled out.

The ideal way to overcome a phobia is to play out the situation or circumstances that traumatize the child's psyche. In a playful way, children are more relaxed, and children's fears are not so pronounced and easier to deal with. In addition to getting rid of fear, various staging and dramatization games can overcome isolation, shyness and self-doubt.

When listening to a fairy tale, the child is identified with the character and experiences his states, emotions. It is important to choose such stories that will help the baby to be a daredevil and a hero.

Isotherapy and sand therapy

This method originates at the stage of diagnosis, only now the child draws his fear, and the specialist makes his analysis. There are two great ways to end an isotherapy session:

1. Make the depicted monster or villain funny. For example, to draw a ridiculous hat to Baba Yaga or to hand over balloons to the bloodthirsty Barmaley.
2. Burn the drawing, explaining to the baby that along with the drawing, fear is also destroyed.

Using sand for drawing has a number of advantages over regular drawing:

• suitable even for children up to 7 years;
• in the process of sand therapy, the child opens up more and works out his own feelings and fears more effectively (see also:);
• plus, when working with sand, the crumbs improve memory and fine motor skills, and also relieve internal stress.

Drawing in the sand is a very deep therapy that helps the child to better connect with his feelings and further develops his fine motor skills, soothes

First of all, parents should know what not to do under any circumstances:

1. Punish the baby if he is afraid of something.
2. Laugh at the baby and accuse of pretense or stupidity.
3. Specially create conditions that provoke fear in order to overcome it. For example, if a child is afraid of dogs, force him to pet them.
4. If possible, do not constantly watch only horror films or read scary stories.

What can parents do to save their child from childhood fear? The following tips may be helpful:

1. Sometimes you just need to listen to the baby and try to understand his feelings. Telling you about his experiences, the child will not only throw out the accumulated emotions, but also give you the opportunity to understand what are the reasons for his fear. The main thing is not to overdo it, asking the baby what and why he is afraid - this will only aggravate the situation. Direct questions should be avoided unless the child wants to. The best option is to take an observant position and ask only leading questions.
2. Be sure to say that you love and always, if necessary, stand up for the little one.
3. It will also be useful to find additional defenders in the form of a blanket, a flashlight or a figurine of your favorite hero.
4. Try to explain in an accessible way the real origin and essence of the phenomenon or object that causes fear in the baby.
5. Watch good cartoons and read books together. For example, the wonderful cartoon "Baby Raccoon" will show the baby that many scary monsters in reality turn out to be fantasy.
6. Draw fear on paper and come up with a way to destroy it together.

It is important to remember that sometimes a moment is enough for fear to appear, but the work on overcoming it can take years and require much more strength for the whole family. If nothing helps to overcome the fear in a child, do not postpone the consultation with a psychotherapist. Phobias that continue to haunt a child after 10 years of age can eventually lead to the development of neuroses, drug addiction and alcoholism.

2. Replacing the image. The child is often afraid of the fictional image that he has developed due to the inability to explain incomprehensible and frightening situations. So, loud barking of a dog can develop a fear of all dogs.

In order to help the child cope with such fear, you need to gradually, but constantly change the negative image to a positive one. For example, showing interesting cartoons and films about dogs, introducing a child to a cute little puppy, and by all means talking about how loyal and honest dogs are by nature.

Over time, the child will change the image, and the fear will gradually disappear.

Ask your child to draw their fear - who is it? A monster, a scary animal, or a villain from a movie? And then offer to make it more fun - draw funny horns or mustaches to the scary monster, give free rein to your imagination and help the child see something light and even positive in his fear.

4. The child is a super hero. Together with the child, imagine a situation in which his fear has become a reality. How could he overcome it? We come up with the largest number of options, from the most serious to the most curious. The essence of this task is to make the child realize how many outlets and opportunities he has to deal with his fear.

5. A toy is the most faithful friend. Such a toy will help to cope with the fear of the dark, with a new environment in kindergarten or with a frightening visit to the dentist. Endowed with limitless possibilities, it will not allow the child to feel alone and defenseless in difficult situations. Let it be the most fearless and courageous companion of your child.

But the most important thing is not to manipulate children with the help of threats and fears, in order to then look for ways to deal with them, because our most important mission is parental love, unconditional acceptance and respect for your child.

Article content

When a baby shudders, screams and cries loudly during sleep, this, at least, causes fear in parents. Night terrors in children are quite common in psychological practice. And the reason for this is not always the developed imagination of the child, as many mothers and fathers believe. Most often, the reason is a lack of attention, a negative atmosphere in the family. Less commonly, the problem occurs with serious disorders in the functioning of the nervous system. Therefore, parents should not scold the baby for his colorful fantasy, but rather understand the problem, dig deeper. Perhaps the child needs parental support or urgently needs psychological help. On the causes of night fears in children, and ways to get rid of them further.

The main reasons for the emergence of fears

Before you figure out what causes night terrors in children, you need to understand what they are.

Night terrors, or parasomnia (from the Latin “unusual phenomena of sleep”), is a condition in which behavioral disturbances occur at various stages of sleep and during the transition from one phase to another. The main reason for this condition is the imperfection, immaturity of the central nervous system. This explains the more frequent occurrence of nightmares in children than in adults.

Most children are afraid of something. Fears can be small, or they can be big. complicate the life of the child and his parents.

Children's fears have their own types and reasons for which they arise, and the features of their manifestation cannot be overlooked.

What are the most common?

Children, like most adults, experience certain fears.

Starting from the age of two, the child learns a sense of fear, for some reason he is afraid of certain things.

The most common are:

• fear of sleeping;
• fear of household appliances;
• and many others.

Top 5 fears that your child may experience:

Where do they come from?

Psychology of reasons:

What are children afraid of at different ages?

Age segments and types of fears that appear during this period during this period:

How do adults help a child acquire new fears? The psychologist will talk about parents' mistakes:

Why are phobias dangerous for a child?

Fears almost never don't just disappear.

If the child is afraid of something, then you need to solve this problem.

After all, the fear will only get worse and it will be more difficult to get rid of it. Ordinary fear can turn into phobia.

If nothing is done, then the child can become very nervous, all the time fall into hysterics. He will become too shy, peers may laugh and mock him and his fears. All this will grow into self-doubt.

Children's fears, if they are not treated in time, can pass into adulthood. In this case, it will be much more difficult to deal with them.

Drawing and the study of fears in the classroom with a psychologist:

Diagnostics and psychoanalysis

When parents drew attention to the fact that their child is afraid of something and this greatly complicates his life, then in this case it is necessary seek help from a psychotherapist.

The specialist will conduct a number of special diagnostic methods that will help determine what exactly the child is afraid of and what reasons lie in his fear.

Characteristics of fears in children and 5 ways to overcome them:

How can you help your child overcome fear?

How to cure fears? Correction work takes place in several stages:

Therapy will help to remove fears:

1. Play Therapy: The element of play is very important in the lives of children. With the help of the game, you can help the child survive certain events. Special psychotherapeutic games will help to gain self-confidence and overcome fears.
2. Fairy tale therapy Fairy tales with a specially selected plot will help the child become more courageous and strong. But if a specific fairy-tale character causes fear, then it is better to refrain from reading. Before going to bed, it is better to read only kind and positive books to your baby.
3. Art therapy: it can be drawing or sculpting. Everything that the child can handle and with which he will be comfortable working will do. Such therapy will give an outlet to the emotions that have accumulated inside.

   The child can draw their fear on a piece of paper and then tear it up. So he will take the first step towards overcoming his fear.

It will be more effective if all correction methods are applied. But you can work with one particular technique.

What to do, if:

• 
  the child is afraid of sounds: make it clear to the child that there is no danger; show the source of the noise, study it together with the baby; turn on calm music more often; do not teach the child to fall asleep in silence, you can turn on the TV, then the baby will not be afraid of even the most insignificant sounds; behave naturally during noise, this will make it clear that there is no danger; talk to your child more often
• child is afraid of zombies: protect the child from everything where zombies are present as a character (books, computer games, films); tell that zombies don't exist; try to talk, because the child may not be afraid of zombies, but of the one whom he draws in his imagination in this image;
• the child is afraid to be alone: start leaving the child for a short period, for example, 20 minutes, adding time each time; be sure to say where you are going and what time you will return; leave a phone number for communication; for this period, you can give the child an occupation, for example, read a book, then the time for him will pass much faster; do not leave the child in the dark; make it clear that it is safe to stay at home; you can give the baby a pet, then it will not be so scary for him to stay at home alone;
• the child is afraid to sleep alone: come up with rituals that will take place every day before going to bed (for example, watching a cartoon, washing, a bedtime story); give the child his favorite toy with which he will sleep; you can turn on the night light; reading good stories before going to bed;
• the child is afraid of other children: teach the child to resolve conflicts; help to gain self-confidence; always support and be there;
• 
  the child is afraid of the teacher: at school it often happens that teachers are strict and raise their voice, this scares the child; it is necessary to explain that there is no escape from the school and teachers, if the teacher speaks loudly, this does not mean that she is evil, it will just be better to hear her; if talking with the child does not help, then you can try to talk to the teacher;
• preschooler is afraid of the teacher: educators, like teachers, sometimes have to raise their voices; a strict teacher can talk loudly with those children who behave badly; the child needs to be explained in advance that in the kindergarten you need to behave well and listen to the teacher;
• the child is afraid to answer in the classroom: you need to rehearse the answer at home with the child, listen carefully to him, tell me where and how to say it better; it would be better if he answers at the beginning of the lesson, so as not to worry at the very end; say that if he knows the material well, then there will be nothing to be afraid of;
• my child is afraid of me(the child is afraid of his mother, the child is afraid of his father): find out from the child the reason for the fear, because there was something, after which the baby began to feel fear; having learned the reason, to understand first of all in oneself, not to do more what frightens; spend more time with the child, talk to him, do what he likes to do; show him your love and support as much as possible;
• the child is afraid to swallow food: explain that it is necessary to swallow food, that this is a natural process that does not cause harm; if the child is afraid to swallow because he once choked, start giving him small pieces that are easy to swallow; you need to take the child to some cafe and show that all people eat and swallow food;
• the child is afraid to describe himself: it is worth explaining to the child that if he wants to go to the toilet, he must ask; to tell that in no case should it be tolerated, because it is harmful to health; if the child is still small, then diapers can be used;
• the child is afraid to fight back: help the child gain self-confidence; to tell that if he is beaten, it is not necessary to endure it silently; let your child know that you support him.

From any childhood fear you can get rid of. The main thing is to understand what the child is so afraid of, what is the reason for his experiences. After that, it remains only to help overcome this fear.