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It is important to recognize that even though we, as adults, know that there are no such things as ghosts, to the child they are real. And no amount of logic will convince them otherwise. You have to accept, for a while, that what they think is real, is actually real, and then you can deal with making it not scary. So rather than trying to reverse their ...

We had exactly the same situation with our daughter, until very recently (she is three years old now). The best recommendation I can give you is: Patience.. Patience.. Patience... We were always firm about washing her hair regularly, even though she protested quite strongly. On the other hand, we always told her before, that we would wash her hair today ...

With my 22-month-old son, the complete opposite approach works best. If I take water in a pitcher and shout: "Wooooo SPLASH!" as I let it all fall on his head, he laughs and asks for more. If I try to do it slowly and patiently, he complains. In general, I find that adding sound effects to the activities he dislikes helps a lot (such as going "bzzzz CLIP! ...

I have a few ideas based on personal experience; the main focus is dealing with it as a gradual change, and keeping in mind that all children are different, so something that works for one child may not work in this case. Keep in mind that if she's that afraid at 5, the process may take a while - it needs to be done at her pace, not yours. Get her a ...

These kind of stories are meant to scare children - the child collector from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the wicked witch, Grimm fairy tales, Doctor Who - we have a rich history of scary stories for kids. The problem isn't the being scared - it's actually a good healthy part of growing up. The thing to do is not try to persuade your child that they shouldn't ...

Something happened. What, nobody knows except him. Probably he is now reminded of this when you give him a bath, and he starts screaming. If you now force him to have a bath even though he is screaming, this will just keep on making it worse. For every bath you give him while he is screaming, the association between horror and bathing will be stronger. ...

I have to agree with Rory. I am 31 years old and I cannot watch horror films (seriously, the last horror film I watched was Thirteen Ghosts which many horror enthusiasts assure me is one of the absolute worst horror films ever made, but after I watched that movie I swore off of them altogether because I didn't sleep for days--and I was probably 25 when I ...

I'll write more later, but... Could you, for now, stand her in the shower and use a jug/pitcher to pour water over her? (I see her getting cold as a possible problem, though.) Ask for a hotel room with a tub since you're running out of time? Does she play with dolls? Or do you have a dog? Could she give her dolls/dog a shower at first to get used to the ...

If you are religious, you can tell her that God is stronger than any ghost, and he will protect her. This is from the point of view of a Christian, but might work for other religions too. Tell her that she can pray for God to protect her, and he will, and the ghosts can't get to her. This allows her to believe what her mother told her, but also gives her ...

Your child's fears are not rational, so I'm guessing that that is why rational explanations aren't helping as much as you'd like. I watched Hellraiser when I was in my twenties and still feel like a bloody hand might come up through my mattress and pull me down to Hell, even though I know that this can't happen. The fact that your child is scared and ...

Treb makes some wonderful points that I hope you find reassuring. In addition to these, we had the same problem with our little one for awhile too. The way we solved it was by giving her a choice to let us do it or she could do it while we monitored and made sure all of it got rinsed. She learned how to lean back somewhat and use the a cup while she sat ...

Me and my kids slept at my friend's house in the basement a while ago while the family was out of town. It was a creepy basement and they said they thought there was a ghost there. I explained that even if there was a ghost there, he wasn't there to scare anyone or hurt them, he was just walking around. It might be creepy, but nothing to be afraid of since ...

If rational explanations don't work to fix the irrational fear, try irrational explanations. Scary stories can be fun, but if they wind up being something that the child (or adult!) worries about excessively, then one possible solution is to make them feel empowered to deal with it. One suggestion I've seen that I thought was pretty creative was to get a ...

First, constantly reassure her that she has nothing to fear. Whenever she is scared, be patient and walk her through. Here's the best thing I can think of. You could also try cartoons that have friendly ghosts, so you turn the fear into something she could laugh at. Casper, is one. Casper is a friendly ghost. The show can help her neutralize the fear ...

Ask her what she is afraid of, and then listen. Many kids are afraid of drowning, getting burned, being cold, not being able to see when the water is streaming at their eyes, not being able to hear if water is in their ears, the feeling of water in or on their nose or ears. Sometime it's the temperature and sometimes, it's the pressure. It may be something ...

I watch with my kids sitting in my lap. When it's too scary, they shiver and get extremely tense. So far, we haven't had any issues if we stop after the first scene with that reaction. After a few times, we pretty much know their limits beforehand. Also, there's something to be said for making them face their fears every once in a while, especially the ...

There's really not enough info here to say anything for certain, other than vague "anxiety disorder" type of things (assuming here that it is a "disorder"), but a couple things come to my mind from what you do have here: His own personality + what could be described as "hoverparenting" "Helicopter parenting" is a term often used to describe parents who are ...

I don't know that I would be overly concerned about points 2 and 3. Point 2: Some kids are just laid back and competition doesn't necessarily spur them on. Encourage him to keep trying things that are difficult and make a big deal out of his successes when he completes something that you know was hard for him. If he fails at something, help him ...

Ask your child the following questions to help in thinking about it realistically. I was scared of slenderman but I thought about this: How was he created? If he exists what are the chances he's after you? It's not like you arer the only child in the world He's a human too If he has no face how does he know where you are? Even if he can tele-port how can ...

Something happened. What, nobody knows except him. Probably he is now reminded of this when you give him a bath, and he starts screaming. This is absolutely correct. If you continue with the 'forced' (for lack of a better word) bathing, then it'll wind up being miserable forevermore. What is it? could be some kinda soreness on his li'l bum. maybe he ...