Fears - how to help your child deal???

jlw2505

My 4 year old DD who used to be the one that was afraid of nothing is now going through that phase where she is afraid of everything.  Bugs, rain, the sprinkler and who knows what is next.  Any tips to help her get through this.  I know she'll get over it with time as this is very normal but how to deal with it now.  Yesterday at school was water day and she refused to go anywhere near the side of the play ground where the sprinklers were set up.  They had an alligator at school on Tuesday and she wouldn't even go in the room with it (it had its mouth rubber banded shut).

Any tips would be great!

Thanks

fearule2

It's all about control, so anything that's not under her control is scary at this age.

 Some ideas to help regain control:

1. Some verbal kids really react well to mantras. Teach her to say "There's nothing to be scared of" or "It's okay, it's not scary" and repeat it to herself over and over. If you work with her on saying it, she will also get the sense of security by remembering you saying it, when she's alone and saying it.

 2.  We did a variation of a monster spray. We got one of those disposal sippy cups - plastic cup with a lid - and put shiny wrapping paper to decorate it. We created a fake nozzle or something to push on at the top ( a button would do). Tell her that whenever she was scared of something, she was to spray it with her "B-Gone" spray, and the scary things will not be scary anymore.

3. A variation to that is the brave-powder. My mother kept a bag of glitter my backpack as a kid. Whenever I was scared, lonely, or needed reassurance, I would go to the bag, stick my finger in, and press the glittery tip to the back of my other hand. Each "hit" would make me braver. Some things needed more hits than others.