Fear of the Dark

you can share with her this wonderful world of darkness. Just tell he of the creators that live in the dark. There are the monsters that do not have much strength and somtimes are just scary because of their looks. Tell her that those frightening monsters are monsters that needs love and attention and do not know how to get it, so they try to scare us at first but if we are not scared by their looks they will become are best night friends. And also share the angels and fairies that protect us in this darkness world, and that nothing bad could happen to her. Because they all play games: and that is to help her overcome the fear of them, it is just a game tell her, and once that she will understand them and the monsters will see that she does not fear from them, they will smile and be her good friends.

Have you tried a night light? My kids always had night lights when they were little. Some nights my eleven year old will insist on her bedroom door being left wide open and the hall light on. Sometimes she wants the light off but she always wants her door open. There are ways of giving your daughter light without having to sit by her bed until she falls asleep. Perhaps you can find a lamp that also has a night light on it. Those worked best for my kids. A regular light bulb at the top and a night light bulb on the base of the lamp. I wish you much luck.

How old is your child? With my daughter, when very young, I would put the hallway light on, & leave her door open a bit. Then I purchased one of those dimmer lights. I would start it on normal light, & it gradually dims itself to a faint glow over half an hour. It was very effective. If the hallway light idea doesn't work for you, you could put a dimmer globe in her bedside lamp.

I think you should first find out for what she is afraid in the dark and what is that afraids her in the dark,talk to her bring out her fear out and if this doesnot work then consult any psyciatrist,all the best.

My only suggestion is to keep her not to watch any horror scene or any clips, shows that have any violent actions.... because in this she always remembers the shows that she watched.

I think you are being over protective towards your child. From what i've noticed, the children who are slightly deviated from the normality are those who have been showered over care and protection by their parents. Don't spoon feed your child on everything. Let her try to overcome this fear. Fears follow when you run away and they flee when you face them. Since, it has reached a stage where in your child can't sleep without you on her bedside, you need to get rid of her fear gradually. * Take her out on night times, for night walks and other places so that she gets used to darkness. When you take her out, don't restrict her, let her do whatever she wants. * Dehypnotize her by telling some stories of braveries and also the biographies of strong men who came up in life from the state of a tiny seed. Fill her with strength. * If the above two does'nt help, you can also take her for a round of counselling, that will help. Because professionalists would know the effective away of making a child mentally bold and normal. DON'T BE OVER PROTECTIVE, IT HINDERS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL GROWTH OF THE CHILDREN

You have to find the reason under why she is afraid of the dark...That in itself is a whole different issue, but maybe get a lamp to have on and not just a night light..Play soft music until she goes to sleep, or tell her you just have to do something and leave the room..Its hard, to know what to do...How old is she.?.

I think it's very common that children are afraid of the darkness. My son hasn't slept alone yet. Sometimes we will play the game of "exploration". I use a torch and he is with me. We go to the room without lights and I tell him this is called "exploration". So let him enjoy the game of playing in the darkness. When he can sleep by himself, then perhaps it will make him feel less scared of the darkness.

yeah. pls use the night light in her room. then she might be not so much scared. and don't tell her some stories about ghost. when i was young, i had been fraid of alone especilly at night, and at that moment i always thought some terrible things or stories. so i think it's better not to tell her such stories.

Hi, this is an age old problem i think that we all face, most of us i think, and my kids are so much older now, but they still have this fear, and its tough for them to get over the fear, once its set in. I think what you can try is letting the lights remain on till they sleep off, as the lightly lit room isnt working for her. You can sit by her side and read till she falls off to sleep too, and then close the lights leaving the night lamp on,and its ok if she calls for help at night, thats part of their growig up years and we mothers have to face that too, just go by her sie, and put her back to sleep, she will feel reassured and fall off too. The fear will lessen with time, dont try and force anything at this stage, this is what i would suggest. Another thing you can try is making her sleep arund the time you sleep, so that she does not get up at night at all, as mostly kids are put to bed early, thus waking them up either to go round the corner and then its aproblem getting them to sleep again.