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My son is afraid of ghosts and demons no matter how much I try to convince him that there's nothing to be afraid of. I read the questions and answers about fear of ghosts, so I thought that as movies help to scare them, what about movies helping them lose their fears?

What are some common things that can be done to help children adress their fear of ghosts and demons?

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    How old is your son?
    – Pascal remembers Monica
    Commented Jun 23, 2018 at 17:04
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    Clarissa - this entirely depends on your child, your family etc. I'm closing as way too broad.
    – Rory Alsop ♦
    Commented Jun 24, 2018 at 19:48
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    I bet he's too old to do my method. We let them watch the worst and talk to them through it. explaining these are stories people make up for fun. They have seen the shining, IT, and many lessers like walking dead by the time they were maybe 4. The result is my younger one asked to see the new IT for her birthday, which we took them to and they had a decent time. Nobody was horrified. The idea was to compare these things to halloween masks, makeup and all that. Showing them that the scary things are just someone's version of painting and sculpting. They got it, and made masks of their own
    – Kai Qing
    Commented Jun 25, 2018 at 23:56
  • Please try to clarify more the age of the child and why you think they're afraid of ghosts.
    – coteyr
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 8:14
  • Also as a quick tip, get some monster spray (or make it). My kids love it, and it helps. No one want's to hear "Your fears are pointless and wrong." But they do like hearing, "We have addressed you fear, and you are safe."
    – coteyr
    Commented Jun 27, 2018 at 8:15

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A few suggestions:

  • Monster's Inc (absolutely great)
  • Casper
  • Some episodes of Dreamwork's trollhunters animated series (but they might be too scary depending on the age of your boy. Also, not about demons but about trolls)
  • Possibly "How to train your dragon" movies & episodes (again, depending on the age of your boy. Also, not demons but dragons).

There's also a beautiful children's book by Ottfried Preussler called "The Little Ghost", which I bet they must have made into a movie. But I'd suggest you read it to him as a bedtime story.

With my kids, it also helped to humor them. If they were afraid of monsters in their room, we went together to check for them under the bed and behind the door. Plus their stuffed animals had awesome monster-fighting powers.

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    We had our kids teach their monster under the bed to do tricks :D
    – pojo-guy
    Commented Jun 24, 2018 at 3:36
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Empower your kids to fight off the monsters. Monsters are scary. They are less scary when you can scare them back and make them run away.

  • A spray bottle of water makes great monster repellent.
  • Drawings put up with "magic monster blaster tape" has been known to keep monsters away.
  • Did you know that monsters are notoriously afraid of flashlights and teddy bears?
  • They are also terrified of Elsa and Transformers pajamas.

Give your child a way to combat the scariness and it will stop being scary. Feeling helpless is scarier than monsters anyway.

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  • "Feeling helpless is scarier than monsters anyway." So true at any age, but especially when you really are helpless (early years.) +1.
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 16:56
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    When my daughter was at the age she became scared of monsters (about 3), we took her and our dog to a dog training class. It as a refresher for the dog, but wonderful for my daughter She started teaching her monster under the bed to do tricks. She also used the dog training skills to deal with bullies at the playground. The expression on the 5 year old boy's face was priceless when she commanded him to "Sit!", and he sat instantly.
    – pojo-guy
    Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 20:59

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