Let's Be Afraid Together

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Petya is afraid of the dark. Petya says to his mother: - Can I sleep in the light, mom? Let the fire burn all night. '' Mom answers: `` No! - Click - and turned off the light. It became quiet and dark. A fresh wind blew through the window. In the darkness I saw Petya the Human at the wall. It turned out at dawn - This is a jacket and pants. With sleeves, like hands, The jacket moved slightly, And the pants themselves danced From the night breeze. In the dark I saw Petya Stupa with Baba Yaga. It turned out at dawn - This is a stove with a poker. This is a stove, Not a yaga, Not a leg, But a poker In the dark, Petya saw: A giant is looking from above. It turned out at dawn - This is an old suitcase. High - on the roof of the cabinet - Dad put the suitcase, And two locks shone with the moon, like two pupils. Every time they meet Petya, the children say to each other: - This is Petya Ivanov. He was scared of the pants! He was scared of the yaga - The old rusty poker!

This is what a rich fantasy Petya has. After all, if not fantasies, then it is unlikely that he would have dreamed something like that.

Thanks to S. Marshak, it is so easy to imagine symbols of fear - Babu Yaga, images of terrible passers-by. These symbols are a means of expressing vivid feelings. They express anxiety in a form that the child understands and make it possible to control it. This is how fantasy allows fear to take on intelligible forms.

It’s a pity that mom doesn’t share Petya’s feelings, as if fear would turn off with the lights off. Or if the guys laugh, there will be fewer fears. The child will have to correspond to the wishes of the mother, because her opinion is so important, and the opinion of friends too - one does not want to go for a walk. He probably can. But what about fear?

First, don't deny. All children are afraid … Depending on their age, they are afraid of different things. And if they adapt, they can stop being afraid.

In case of any emotional disorders, we go to "a deserted country located between reality and fantasy," as Anna Freud wrote. The child passionately believes in the reality of the object (or symbol) that frightens him, in spite of everything that the mind and mother tell him.

Very young children are afraid of parting with their mother, they are afraid of injections, they are afraid of the dark.

Children are a little older - scary characters and nightmares. Children 6-7 years old are afraid of death, they realize that death is a part of life. They can ask their parents if they will live forever.

At the same time, children love to get together and be afraid together. Tell scary stories - horror stories. For example, about a dark room and a black man. Or read each other quatrains about some guy with a grenade. Isn't it scary together? And it's a legal, proven way to deal with your fears. It is clear that if everyone is afraid, then not all are fools and weaklings. Let the kids have this kind of horror story. They help them cope with the difficulties of age. children love to be read and told stories that frightened them at first.

This predictability (after all, children choose the time of fear) reduces anxiety and anxiety, as it reduces the feeling of helplessness, which becomes a factor in the emergence of these feelings. Children enjoy playing games where they try to avoid situations where they might encounter a “scary” object. By replaying the situation many times, they convince themselves that they are not so helpless.

The ritual of play itself is a way to cope with fear in the play space in which all children develop. Hiding and catching, therefore, evoke mixed feelings: both fear and delight. So, through simple games, children learn to emotionally adequately respond to fears.

All games and heroes of scary tales form a transitional space that promotes the development of the ability to symbolize. There is no development without play. Deprived of the opportunity to play, express a variety of feelings, be not only good, but also frightening, the child is deprived of the opportunity to form object relationships. As a result, the level of anxiety increases.

Therefore, try not to aggravate the child's fear with your own. Playing your fears is so brave!