Children’s fear of ghosts… How to treat it without ridicule? Moroccan depth

Darkness, monsters, ghosts, villains, … a long list of things that make your child afraid at night or when alone.

The phenomenon is global and is not limited to young children, but can include adolescents, young adults and even some adults, despite their certainty that what they fear is not real.

The fear of ghosts today is reinforced by the momentum of “scariness” set by the media, and spread in cartoons and video games, not to mention the stories that circulate among peers or within the family, which fill the children’s memory with many frightening symbols that they can expect. ​that it will suddenly appear at night.or in its unity.

What is the explanation for the fear of ghosts? Are children afraid of the dark or the night? What methods should be followed in dealing with children’s fear of ghosts?

In the following report, there is an answer to the previous questions, as well as others, as reported by Al Jazeera Net, which could help children overcome their fear of ghosts.

Fear of the night

In 2015, the International Journal of Psychophysiology published a study stating that children’s fear of sleep is not as dark as their fear of the night itself.

The anxiety that children feel during sleep also plays a role in feeding their imagination and in their thinking that there is some danger.

This danger can be embodied in the form of ghosts for various reasons. Including popular culture, which deals with multiple stories in books, movies, and cartoons about strange-looking creatures that have supernatural powers and scare people.

Motives of fear differ depending on the age of the child, and can be divided into 3 age stages:

+ small children

Children between the ages of 2 and 3 are often afraid of anything unfamiliar to them and this can make them cry.

+ preschool

Children between the ages of 3 and 5 have a vivid imagination that feeds their fears, and they feel threatened by the fears created by their imagination because they are not yet able to separate reality from fantasy.

+ at school age

During the school years, fears become more real; Such as the fear of thunderstorms, and some may still suffer from anxiety during sleep.

How to help a child who is afraid of ghosts?

However irrational the fear of ghosts may be, it is a real fear that cannot be ignored. Here are some strategies to help ease your child’s fears:

+ Be honest about his feelings

The child’s feelings may seem illogical, but they are real, and denying them can make the child feel that you are dismissing his feelings, so instead of “Don’t be afraid,” you can say “I know you feel scared,” to reassure him that you trust him and that he is okay feel fear.

+ Encourage him to express himself through drawing

Encourage your child to express what he sees in his imagination by drawing, such as drawing pictures of monsters he is afraid of, as this gives him another way to express himself more clearly

+ Look under the bed with him

Looking for places where a child thinks monsters are hiding helps him face his fears head on.

Before you turn off the lights at night, you can ask your child if he wants to look under the bed while you’re with him and use a flashlight to search everywhere to see if it’s empty.

+ his righteousness with darkness

Doing something fun with your child in the dark helps to reduce his fears that he is not what he imagines.

You can read bedtime stories with a flashlight or share a view of the sky and see the stars and the moon and talk about how beautiful they are and only appear at night.

+ Give your child some control

Ask your child what can help him overcome his fear and whether his solutions are sleeping with his stuffed animals or wearing superhero pajamas, be prepared to accept his suggestions if they are within reasonable limits

This feeling gives him some control and calms his fear and helps him learn to solve problems.

+ Watch what your child watches

Pay attention to the movies and cartoons your child watches, especially those that contain violence or anything scary, as they are one of the biggest contributors to feeding their imagination, especially right before bed.

+ Create a soothing bedtime routine

From the bedtime routine, you can separate bathing, reading quiet stories or having the child stay for a while on the lap of the father and mother, in order to calm the child and increase his feeling of security and warmth.

+ Use stories about overcoming fear

A 2015 study found that reading stories about overcoming a fear of the dark reduced children’s night terrors

Watch out for this kind of behavior

There are some strategies that can backfire and make your child’s fears worse. Here are some things you should avoid:

+ Don’t make fun of him:

Mocking a child’s fears can make his crisis worse and make him feel ashamed, so avoid shaming him and belittling his feelings by saying, “Don’t exaggerate” or accusing him of being a “little child” or criticizing him if the child is a boy for being “manly and don’t be afraid”. Instead, remind him of other things he was afraid of that he was able to overcome; To strengthen his strength and self-confidence.

Don’t argue with reason:

Children – and adults too – can’t be talked to logically and sensibly when they’re in an emotional state, so don’t waste energy trying to convince your child when they’re scared that monsters under the bed don’t make sense, and instead, show them your compassion. Remember, many fears and phobias of adults are not necessarily based on logic and facts; As well as the fear of public speaking.

+ Don’t run away from it:

Punishing a child for his fear by moving away from him or isolating him in his room will increase his panic, and words alone may not be enough to calm him, so try to restrain him in moments of weakness by approaching him and hugging him, because physical contact with your child confirms that he you protect and that things are under your control.

In most cases, the fear of monsters and ghosts disappears gradually as the child matures, and this does not mean that the fear of the dark will disappear completely. It is normal for older children to still have some fear of the dark.