Once you know that you're child is afraid of someone, let them know you're taking the situation seriously. “When a kid says something’s scary, there's a pretty good chance that we as adults don’t think it’s scary,” Rachel Busman, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, explained. “But we always want to start by validating their feelings.”
For example, instead of “Oh come on, that wasn't scary!” or “What is there to be afraid of?” try something like, “Wow, it sounds like you were scared!” or, “I know a lot of kids worry about that.” It goes without saying that even though we find these funny creepy toys on the list amusing, your kid might actually be frightened of them.
Once you've offered reassurance it's important to move on quickly. "We don’t want to dwell on offering comfort around the scary thing, because even that can become reinforcing and take on a life of its own," Dr. Busman said. Rather, start talking about how you’ll work together to help him start feeling braver and get to the point where he’s able to manage the fear by himself.
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But not all fears are the same. “[The ones] that don’t interfere with a child's life don't always need getting over,” Dr. Busman said.
So if your little one doesn’t like scary movies, for instance, that's fine. It may actually be a testament to his self-advocacy skills, Dr. Busman noted. “Deciding, ‘I don’t like these, I’m not going to watch’ is your child standing up for his needs and saying, 'This is my limit.'”
Which, I guess, kids said about most of these terrifyingly funny toys.
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