One thing I found helpful is to make the scary thing funny. As an example, both of my children got scared of tornadoes at different times when they were young after seeing news features about them. I sat down with each one and we would imagine things that would make a tornado funny, like if it was moving over a hot pan and it would bounce up and down and say "Ow! Eek! Ouch! Ooo! Yeow! Ouch! Ouch!" in a high and funny voice. It made my son giggle and he's never been scared of tornadoes every since. With my daughter, it was imagining that there is a huge tornado and it is making enormous farting noises. It's hard to be scared of a tornado that farts. It made her laugh and she hasn't been afraid of them ever since. The trick is that it has to make them laugh at the thought of it. It's impossible to laugh at something and be scared of it at the same time.
Trish MercerNovember 14, 2014
Several of my nine children have been scared at this age, so we turn it into something funny. Labeling it differently, and having an exuberant attitude, helps the child see it differently as well. For example, just the other day a large bag caught in our tree, terrifying my 34 month old son. But I said, "Oh, funny! It's waving like a flag! Funny!" After stating that a few times and laughing, he started laughing too, and rushed to show all of his siblings the scary/funny bag. Attitude is everything, as he says here. Keep yours light and silly, and she'll copy it.
Comments | Return to Story
Michael PetersonNovember 14, 2014
One thing I found helpful is to make the scary thing funny. As an example, both of my children got scared of tornadoes at different times when they were young after seeing news features about them. I sat down with each one and we would imagine things that would make a tornado funny, like if it was moving over a hot pan and it would bounce up and down and say "Ow! Eek! Ouch! Ooo! Yeow! Ouch! Ouch!" in a high and funny voice. It made my son giggle and he's never been scared of tornadoes every since. With my daughter, it was imagining that there is a huge tornado and it is making enormous farting noises. It's hard to be scared of a tornado that farts. It made her laugh and she hasn't been afraid of them ever since. The trick is that it has to make them laugh at the thought of it. It's impossible to laugh at something and be scared of it at the same time.
Trish MercerNovember 14, 2014
Several of my nine children have been scared at this age, so we turn it into something funny. Labeling it differently, and having an exuberant attitude, helps the child see it differently as well. For example, just the other day a large bag caught in our tree, terrifying my 34 month old son. But I said, "Oh, funny! It's waving like a flag! Funny!" After stating that a few times and laughing, he started laughing too, and rushed to show all of his siblings the scary/funny bag. Attitude is everything, as he says here. Keep yours light and silly, and she'll copy it.
ADD A COMMENT