Your questions answered by Dr Angharad Rudkin of Greatvine.com
My 6 year-old is frightened about all sorts of things. What can I do to help?
As they grow up and their awareness of the world increases, children develop fears of different things. So, they move from a fear of monsters in the wardrobe, to burglars and floods, to being criticised as teenagers. If your child is naturally quite a fearful individual then they will need an extra bit of reassurance and support. We all tend to avoid situations or things that make us feel frightened, but the more we avoid it the greater that fear becomes.
Keep talking
So encourage your child to manage their anxiety rather than run away from it. You can do this by teaching them relaxation, talking to them in a rational way about their fears (e.g. yes, spiders may not be very nice to look at but they won’t cause you any harm, they are more scared of you than you are of them), help your child write a project to create a scrapbook about the thing that frightens them as the more you know about something the less scary it is, and keep talking about it.
Dr Angharad Rudkin
Dr Angharad Rudkin is a Chartered Clinical Child Psychologist with over 10 years of experience working with children and families. She has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Oxford and provides therapy within the NHS and privately.
Dr Rudkin specialties include adolescent anxiety, and depression, stemming from bereavement, divorce and other life events. For individual advice by phone book a private call with Dr Angharad Rudkin at www.greatvine.com/angharad_rudkin.
For help with behaviour, speak with Angharad Rudkin and other parenting experts at Greatvine.com
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