Turn Your Child's Fears into Laughter and Smiles

"There's nothing to fear, but fear itself."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt"

"There's nothing to fear, but fear itself. "  That statement couldn't be more true! Every fear begins with a thought. Most of us have awesome imaginations, but unfortunately, many use their imagination applied to the dreaded task of... worry.
A child's imagination is a place where many magical things occur. They play, and create fun, and art, but other times, their imagination can take a darker turn, and create something they fear either from the unknown, something they've heard, or something they've seen. In fact many adult phobias begin as something innocent from childhood, and the thought of something terrible happening grows over time. I, personally, am not a fan of clowns, and I can attribute that to several sleepovers as a child where clowns played a role in a scary movie. In fact, if I had to think back, I believe the movies, "It"  by Stephen King, and "Poltergeist" were two of the culprits!

What parent hasn't been woken up in the middle of the night with a scared little one standing next to them because of a bad dream? Or when they suddenly become afraid of going in a room, or off by themselves? I have three kids with wild imaginations so I know a thing or two about that. They can get so bad sometimes they're almost inconsolable. Whatever it is, that fear is very real to them just as ours is to us no matter how ridiculous  it sounds.

What to Do:

One word...
Imagination- Imagination started the fear to begin with, and is the thing that's going to eliminate it as well. Take advantage of a time when they are really afraid of something, and distract them by asking about something they think is pretty cute, about something you know that they love or is really funny. Chances are they might be caught off guard at first, but once you have something to work with, ask them to close their eyes, and describe the thing they find scary, and then you (as the adult) make that scary thing into something else, and use some creative skills to make it less intimidating. You could either make it smaller, or ask them to change color, or the place, or even make up a story to the scenario where this character (or whatever) is simply misunderstood, and really quite sweet.

One recent example in my own home was when my littlest daughter started being afraid of going anywhere by herself. I had asked her to get something from the upstairs and bring it to me, and she began shivering, and whimpering. In asking her what was wrong, she began to describe a character she had seen briefly on something her (much older) brother had watched that she found to e scary. So I asked her to describe something that made her laugh and began talking about what she loved.
"BUNNIES!" she giggled. Then I asked her to think about the scary guy, (she winced), and told her right away to imagine he just popped out some cute little bunny ears! Then, I began telling her to turn him into a cute, pink, fuzzy bunny, and imagine him hopping around instead doing silly little things.
With this, she began laughing hysterically, and making up more to the story as it grew into a playful situation.
Right after our conversation, she went right upstairs by herself giggling the entire way, as she imagined her once scary little man as a cute and cuddly new friend who was hopping up the steps behind her. That's all it took, and she was fine!

So do what you can to be as creative! Using the imagination with your children is a great way to help them with problem solving skills, and in cases where fear is concerned, it can really teach to help coping skills as well.