Family Tips

Parents can and should help children to develop the skills and confidence to overcome their fears and anxiety. The fallowing advice will help guide you in helping your child deal with his or her fears and phobias.

At first you should become aware that the fear is real. As trivial or even funny as a fear may seem to you, it is real to your child and it’s causing him or her to feel anxious and afraid. Try to talk about fears - words often have the power to take out the negative feeling.
Never underrate the fear trying to force your child to overcome it. The words “Don’t be ridiculous! There are no monsters in your closet!” may only force the child to go to bed, but they won’t make the fear go away.
But don’t cater for the fears. If your child doesn’t like dogs, don’t deliberately avoid them in the street. Such behavior will just reinforce the belief, that dogs should be feared and avoided.
Teach your child how to estimate fear and risk.
Teach dealing with strategies. Try the fallowing easy techniques. Using you as “home base,” the child can come nearer toward the feared object, and then return to you for safety, as a safety place. You can also teach the child some positive self-statements, such as “I can do this” and “I will be OK,” which your child can say to himself or herself when feeling anxious. Visualization and deep breathing are also helpful.
The key to resolving fears and anxieties is to overcome them. But do not let things rip, as child’s fears may develop into great problems in the future.