Fears: Young Children

Parents often worry about their children's fears and anxieties. Children's worries and reactions to situations vary enormously. Most children will be worried and fearful from time to time. You can help your children overcome fears and to have the confidence needed to be able to face up to the hard things that will happen in their lives.


What are anxieties, fears and phobias?
Fear is a feeling that triggers a number of changes in the body. When something happens that a person is afraid of, the body prepares to either tackle the situation or to run away. To do this, the heart rate and breathing rate get faster and the person may turn pale, perspire, have an unpleasant feeling in his stomach ('butterflies') or feel shaky.


While fear has a particular cause for example, a person, animal, situation that someone is afraid of, anxiety is a more general unpleasant feeling, where it may not be clear what the person is worried about. A phobia is a really strong fear of something specific. The fear is much stronger than the risk of harm and it interferes with things the person wants to do.

It is normal to feel worried about some situations, and being afraid is the way we can be prepared to meet and deal with danger- it makes us alert and ready to take action.

Young children will be naturally fearful of some things, such as being separated from a parent, and they need to be taught to be fearful of certain other things to keep safe. The dangers of traffic and electricity are too great, and young children cannot understand them, so fear helps them keep safe- parents also need to keep them safe and not rely on fear alone.

When deciding whether your child's fear is a problem, you need to consider:
Is it reasonable for a child to feel this way?
Is the fear interfering with the everyday life of the child or family?

If a child has a lot of fears and worries, it is important to think about what is happening in her life. For example, is there illness in the family, are her parents having lots of arguments, etc? Sometimes phobias begin at a time of trauma or difficulty.