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 ...
- 641
48
votes
How do I help my 3 year old daughter who is terrified of what I believe is a ghost?
It sounds like your daughter may be experiencing night terrors:
Night terrors are common in children aged between 3 and 8 years old.
A child who experiences night terrors may scream, shout and thrash ...
- 10.5k
43
votes
How to nurture my child to be fearless
It seems to me that being shouted at is likely to make any child cry, particularly by an older child. Shouting is not nice, and intimidating particularly from an older child.
Door knocking i've not ...
- 56.2k
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 ...
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 -> ...
- 17.6k
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 ...
- 1,000
24
votes
Accepted
How do you explain to a 3-year-old what Halloween is?
(What is it with toddlers and hot air balloons? Mine can't stand them either -- I think the floating blows his mind... what's holding it up in the air?!?)
We frame the holiday in terms of playing ...
- 22.5k
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 ...
- 17.6k
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 805
21
votes
Accepted
How to help (and bathe) a toddler who is terrified of the plughole in the bath?
That particular irrational fear is common. Take her fears seriously, because they're real to her. Explaining that they are unfounded doesn't work, nor does smiling at or dismissing her fears. If you'...
- 66.3k
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 ...
- 8,565
20
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 ...
- 13.3k
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 ...
- 393
18
votes
How to nurture my child to be fearless
Being brave is not the absence of fear, it is doing the right thing even though you are afraid. Fear is good, it is based off of natural preservation instincts and can warn of danger. You need to ...
- 317
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 ...
- 1,468
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 ...
- 568
15
votes
How can I address toddler's fear of water over her face?
What I have found most effective is to teach them a coping mechanism, something active to do so they don't feel helpless, and give them plenty of time to employ it. For example:
Okay, some water ...
- 35.7k
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 ...
- 66.3k
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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 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 ...
- 1,994
11
votes
How to help a toddler overcome the fear of water on head?
I have dealt with this fear as a babysitter and this always works. Kids never cry when I wash their hair. First get or make some bath puppets. Puppets make a great distraction and kids would rather ...
- 111
11
votes
What can help a seven year old boy cope with night terrors and being constantly afraid?
Poor little guy. Try searching for information on "childhood fears" and "night terrors", those are the usual terms used.
Here's one set of basic recommendations:
General ...
- 4,530
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 ...
- 6,533
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 "...
- 22.5k
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