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130 votes

I am 21 and I am terrified beyond belief of my father

You are 21. You are an adult under Egyptian law. If you need missing papers, you can apply for them without having a guardian. You only need someone to vouch that you live with them, which brings us ...
53 votes

How do I help my 3 year old daughter who is terrified of what I believe is a ghost?

I heard that when you insist that there is no scary things out there, she feels alone. Because she is sure of what she sees, and she needs your help, and when you keep saying that there is no scary ...
Bahar Aykaç's user avatar
40 votes

How do I help my 3 year old daughter who is terrified of what I believe is a ghost?

This answer might just save your life... Get a carbon monoxide detector, make sure yours works. "ghosts" and spirits have never been real, but they were much more common before the age of ...
Billy left SE for Codidact's user avatar
37 votes
Accepted

How to address my son’s fear of mostly passive objects, namely smoke detectors

Smoke detectors are not "harmless", especially if you are three years old and had one going off suddenly. Can you explain to him how they work? Not the technical details, but the purpose: smoke -> ...
Stephie's user avatar
  • 18.2k
29 votes
Accepted

How to explain Paris terrorist attack to primary school age children?

I've got a hard time explaining the motives of the terrorists. I don't know whether this is the best article on the subject (it's near the top of this Google search) but for example What Motivates ...
ChrisW's user avatar
  • 1,000
23 votes

Is my wife an over-protective parent and how does this influence my child?

First things first: No, not all mothers are as protective as your wife is and from what you write, her behaviour is far from normal. (But of course we have only your statement to go by.) From what ...
Stephie's user avatar
  • 18.2k
22 votes

I am 21 and I am terrified beyond belief of my father

sorry to hear about your situation. It is for sure a very difficult situation. The fact you are feeling anxiety is natural and very understandable, so don't be down on yourself for that. The fact you ...
jimi's user avatar
  • 221
22 votes

What can I do to encourage my 10-year-old boy to try things he is reluctant about?

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry I'm aware ...
Flater's user avatar
  • 1,400
21 votes
Accepted

Using scare tactics to get children to obey

Scare tactics work but for the wrong reason. This is why they are a bad approach for getting your children to behave correctly in the moment or continue to behave correctly. I grew up in a religious ...
SomeShinyObject's user avatar
21 votes

Overcoming an irrational fear of long guns

I like Chris' answer, but consider that there is a difference between spiders and guns. Guns are actually dangerous, while many spiders we encounter daily aren't. So while your daughter's anxiety ...
Pascal remembers Monica's user avatar
19 votes

I am 21 and I am terrified beyond belief of my father

Sounds scary. I would advise you to join the army. The army in Egypt has a two year term of service which will go by in no time - as a woman, administrative and medical jobs are the only available ...
Dr. Spock's user avatar
  • 393
18 votes
Accepted

What can I do to encourage my 10-year-old boy to try things he is reluctant about?

When I was a child, my parents had a philosophy about doing certain things. If you try it, and you don't like it, then you don't have to keep doing it. This was mostly for signing up for various ...
Zibbobz's user avatar
  • 2,630
16 votes

How to address my son’s fear of mostly passive objects, namely smoke detectors

If you want him to understand, use a simple concept that he should already be familiar with at that age: a mistake. The smoke detector is supposed to detect smoke and warn people about it, but this ...
Mason Wheeler's user avatar
15 votes

How to deal with toddler's fear of dogs?

Don't give up on having a dog; your son's fear is likely transitory, and there are ways you can help him overcome them. But it will take time and patience. I'm sure there are a number of ways to do ...
anongoodnurse's user avatar
14 votes

How to explain Paris terrorist attack to primary school age children?

This is the line I've taken, for better or worse... Like in school we trust teachers to be telling the truth about things in lessons. The people who attacked France, were told lies by their teachers ...
James Snell's user avatar
  • 5,102
13 votes
Accepted

My 6 year old daughter is afraid her Muslim friend will be deported if Trump is elected President

Children often have more awareness of the world than we give them credit for and it's important for us, as adults, to remember that the world can look very different from a child's perspective. Things ...
tallus's user avatar
  • 515
13 votes

How do I help my 3 year old daughter who is terrified of what I believe is a ghost?

On a whim of the moment I helped my 3-yearold out of fear of ghosts by quickly ad lib-”befriending” the percieved ghost from my childs imagination. Like: Oh, but that is just my friend... (surprised ...
ErikE's user avatar
  • 231
12 votes
Accepted

Overcoming an irrational fear of long guns

Whether it's long guns, or spiders or heights or something else I think you need to deal with this the same way you would any other fear or anxiety. Talk with them about it. Try to understand why they ...
Chris M's user avatar
  • 1,994
11 votes

How to address my son’s fear of mostly passive objects, namely smoke detectors

The problem is that it startled, scared, and hurt him, and he worries that it will do so again without warning. Smoke detectors are painful to hear nearby - they are just below the range of hearing ...
Adam Davis's user avatar
  • 6,563
11 votes
Accepted

The toddler is being frightened of ghosts at daycare. How should I deal with the child before the fear sets in completely?

From my own experience, it seems that a toddler doesn't have a strong understanding of what a ghost is supposed to be (the spirit of a dead person). Rather, it's a term that can be applied to "...
Acire's user avatar
  • 22.6k
11 votes

My 6 year old daughter is afraid her Muslim friend will be deported if Trump is elected President

I will try to make some suggestions which you may or may not find suitable: Talk to her about it. She obviously understands something about politics, explain her more about it, be ready to answer her ...
yo''s user avatar
  • 274
10 votes
Accepted

How can I help my son overcome his fear of dogs so we can enjoy our time together with my puppy?

We adopted my son when he was four and a half years old, from China. He was terrified of animals. He reportedly ran, screaming, from the room at a birthday party, when a kitten entered the room. We ...
Francine DeGrood Taylor's user avatar
9 votes

What can I do to encourage my 10-year-old boy to try things he is reluctant about?

I'm somewhat a fan of Maria Montessori, and the one sentence any Montessori parent could tell you is this: Follow the child. It took me years to figure out what this means, but ultimately what I ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 61.8k
8 votes
Accepted

How do I solve my brother's fear of a creepy video game character?

I'd discuss this with your parents and then follow their lead. Props to you for stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility, but I don't think its actually your problem. All young children ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
  • 10.2k
8 votes

My 6 year old daughter is afraid her Muslim friend will be deported if Trump is elected President

Compliment her. This is a great achievement for a 6 year old and you should be proud. Let her know. Find out her source of knowledge. It's probably a good source, but you want to make sure that what ...
Hilmar's user avatar
  • 7,204
8 votes

I am 21 and I am terrified beyond belief of my father

I'm across the border from you in Israel. I happen to know a Beduin girl who was in a very similar situation to you, and she claimed that it is very very common. I lost touch with her when she did the ...
dotancohen's user avatar
  • 1,320
8 votes
Accepted

Fear developing in three year old

Developing a fear of things is a part of normal childhood development (after all being frightened of somethings is a useful skill). Its common to see this develop around the age of three 1,2,3 as this ...
tallus's user avatar
  • 515
8 votes
Accepted

How to handle a 10 year-old's scary imaginings?

This could be the early stages of schizophrenia. I have catatonic schizophrenia myself and I remember well what it felt like as a child before I came to understand the illness. You've pretty much ...
Anonymous's user avatar

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