Very often, young children are afraid of the dark and categorically do not want to fall asleep alone. The task of parents is to help the baby get rid of the fears of the dark.
Psychologists say that the fear of the dark is absolutely normal for a child of 3-5 years old. By this time, the kid has already received a certain amount of knowledge, listened to a lot of fairy tales and watched dozens of cartoons, learned to fantasize, and can already come up with his own magical stories and fairy-tale characters. However, a small person is not yet fully able to distinguish between reality and an imaginary world.
Psychologists recommend concretizing fear and bringing it out – most often, young children are not afraid of the darkness itself, but of someone who can hide in this darkness. Talk to your child and try to find out what or who specifically the child is afraid of. Let him draw his enemy from the darkness – a wolf, Baba Yaga, a ghost, or an unprecedented monster may appear on a piece of paper.
When the image has been graphically embodied on a piece of paper, you can change it a little – add funny, ridiculous, or cute details. Will the painted wolf be so scary if you add a good-natured smile to it and “plant” a butterfly in your ear?
You can try another method: the drawing with the monster can be crumpled, torn into small pieces, or trampled underfoot, accompanying these actions with the appropriate words. The child, together with the parent, must say to this monster: “Go away, I’m not afraid of you anymore, you are no more.” This ritual is best performed during the day, and not at bedtime, and before laying down, you can mention in passing that the monster will not come again because we tore it up in the afternoon.
If there is a fear of the dark, do not force the child to fight the darkness on his own and leave him alone to fall asleep in the dark. From 3-4 years old, the baby can already quite independently turn on a night light, floor lamp, or sconce and feel like a master of the situation.
And the best prevention of night fears is the good mood of the child. Give him enough time, joke with him more, have fun and play – then he will not be afraid of any nightmares.
