{"id":536,"date":"2012-07-04T15:26:44","date_gmt":"2012-07-04T19:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/?p=536"},"modified":"2012-08-23T15:57:54","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T19:57:54","slug":"5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps to Help Your Child Overcome Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Whether it is bedtime or fireworks or maybe it\u2019s sitting on Santa\u2019s lap, children will have fear about things they don\u2019t understand, things that their minds can\u2019t wrap around, things that are just too big to put into context and in some situations, things they should be afraid of.<\/p>\n

When our children experience fear \u00a0we oftentimes try to minimize it by saying things like \u2018there\u2019s nothing to be afraid of,\u2019 or \u2018that can\u2019t hurt you,\u2019 and then we go on to force them to do exactly what they are afraid of. For a child who is actually experiencing fear sayings do nothing other than to make the child feel dismissed and unheard and the further action of forcing the child to experience that fear seems like a punishment.<\/p>\n

As conscious parents we can follow five simple steps to help our child overcome fear.<\/p>\n

Stop<\/strong>– when your child expresses or demonstrates fear of something, stop what you are doing and let your child know that you have heard them. If the fear is long standing and you just don\u2019t have time at the moment, be sure to acknowledge it and let your child know you will talk to them about it at a set time (after dinner, before bed) but sure to let them know when you will be able to sit and discuss their fear.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> – \u00a0Let your child speak about what is frightening her. Don\u2019t talk over her, or dismiss what she has to say. Take the time to really hear what she is telling you.<\/p>\n

Acknowledge<\/strong> \u2013 Acknowledge that she is afraid. If you can share a story of your own fear, which will let her know that others experience fear too. If you feel the fear warrants validation let her know that too. If you don\u2019t, again, don\u2019t dismiss the fear, but you also don\u2019t have to validate it.<\/p>\n

Explain<\/strong>\u2013 Always keep in mind what your child is trying to learn in a given situation.<\/p>\n

-If the fear is an important learning lesson, avoiding it won\u2019t make it go away. That in itself is important to share with your child. If it looks like a life lesson, see if you can help your child get the root of the lesson. Maybe it has to do with being seen, or being heard or speaking one\u2019s Truth.<\/p>\n

-If you have information that can dissuade the fear, now is the time to share it. If you don\u2019t, if it is an intangible, don\u2019t make something up and again don\u2019t dismiss the fear. Simply saying one shouldn\u2019t be afraid doesn\u2019t make the fear go away. At the same time, too much discussion can add value to the \u2018fear\u2019 so gauge talking about it accordingly.<\/p>\n

Action<\/strong> \u2013 Explore ways to help your child address the fear. Here are a few suggestions for different types of fear:<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s a legitimate fear<\/em> \u2013 they don\u2019t feel comfortable around a certain person, or something they are being asked to do makes them feel uneasy \u2013 it\u2019s important to honor this. Children have a keen radar for people and situations that appear to be one thing, but in fact are something else. Don\u2019t ever be embarrassed to honor your child\u2019s inner knowing. By supporting your child you reinforce their intuition rather than force them to shut it off or turn it down.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s fear of the unknown<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Teaching your child to \u2018blow the fear\u2019 out can help. Have your child envision a big soup bubble out in front of them and then have them blow the fear into it. Then have them send the bubble far, far away and pop it.<\/p>\n

Work with Natural Remedies(follow my Tuesday posts on Natural Healing for insight into these and other ways to support your child).<\/p>\n

Flower essences work vibrationally and can help shift the energy. Explore Aspen, Rock Rose and Mimulus as options;<\/p>\n

Work with essential oils such as lavender or chamomile to help relax and calm\u00a0 – use a diffuser<\/p>\n

Have your child picture a big bubble of protection around them;<\/p>\n

Have them work with their angels or other spiritual helpers to create a sense of safety.<\/p>\n

Conquer the fear together.<\/em> Sometimes by having the reassurance of you, your child can overcome something that they fear. By seeing you do what they are afraid of, they can let go of their own fear.<\/p>\n

Show your child the other side<\/em> – Show your child that in some cases the other side of fear is excitement. For things like performing or speaking in public, what we feel as fear, can actually be easily turned into excitement.<\/p>\n

Help your child find a solution to their fear<\/em> \u2013 if it is standing up for themselves, role play with them; if it is fear of the dark a simple night light might help; if it\u2019s the fear of a situation or an activity determine if you feel they should confront the fear or if it\u2019s ok to find a way to work around it (consider life lessons here \u2013 if it\u2019s a life lesson the fear won\u2019t go away by finding a work around, your child will create another opportunity to learn that lesson down the road).<\/p>\n

Let your child have the experience<\/em> -And sometimes, you just have to let them have the experience. Support them, reassure them and let them have the experience. Once the experience if over follow-up with what they experienced and hopefully it all went well. Now you can use this as a benchmark for any future experiences of fear.<\/p>\n

Helping your child to truly navigate a fear, in the end, will give them an immense sense of self-empowerment. \u00a0As they learn to both analyze and assess their situation and then implement tools that you\u2019ve shared with them, they will continue to reinforce their own inner knowingness and foster their conscious awareness.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2012 Christine Agro<\/p>\n

Remember, join me at\u00a0The Conscious Mom\u2019s Guide<\/a>\u00a0for more insight, guidance and to connect with a growing group of conscious parents.<\/p>\n

Have questions about your child or need support? Christine offers\u00a0private readings<\/a>\u00a0as well as on-line support at\u00a0The Consicous Mom\u2019s Guide<\/a><\/p>\n

Christine Agro is a clairvoyant, naturopath, Master Herbalist, conscious mom and author of 50 Ways to Live Life Consciously as well as of The Conscious Living Wisdom Cards (Special Moms\u2019 Edition). Christine is founder of The Conscious Mom\u2019s Guide , a membership site where she helps support you on your own journey of living life consciously and on your journey of being a Conscious parent. You can also join Christine on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>. To contact Christine, invite her to speak or to schedule an appointment with her please\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whether it is bedtime or fireworks or maybe it\u2019s sitting on Santa\u2019s lap, children will have fear about things they don\u2019t understand, things that their minds can\u2019t wrap around, things that are just too big to put into context and in some situations, things they should be afraid of. When our children experience fear \u00a0we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":495,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[364,11,3,127,10],"tags":[58,221,222,9,124,220],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-back-to-school","category-conscious-parenting-2","category-life-as-a-conscious-mom","category-life-tools-for-children","category-list-day","tag-beliefnet","tag-child-and-fear","tag-childhood-fear","tag-christine-agro","tag-life-lessons","tag-overcoming-fear"],"yoast_head":"\n5 Steps to Help Your Child Overcome Fear - Life As A Conscious Mom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Steps to Help Your Child Overcome Fear - Life As A Conscious Mom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether it is bedtime or fireworks or maybe it\u2019s sitting on Santa\u2019s lap, children will have fear about things they don\u2019t understand, things that their minds can\u2019t wrap around, things that are just too big to put into context and in some situations, things they should be afraid of. When our children experience fear \u00a0we…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Life As A Conscious Mom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-04T19:26:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-23T19:57:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/files\/2012\/07\/MP900422720-300x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christine Agro, The Conscious Mom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Steps to Help Your Child Overcome Fear - Life As A Conscious Mom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Steps to Help Your Child Overcome Fear - Life As A Conscious Mom","og_description":"Whether it is bedtime or fireworks or maybe it\u2019s sitting on Santa\u2019s lap, children will have fear about things they don\u2019t understand, things that their minds can\u2019t wrap around, things that are just too big to put into context and in some situations, things they should be afraid of. When our children experience fear \u00a0we…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/","og_site_name":"Life As A Conscious Mom","article_published_time":"2012-07-04T19:26:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-08-23T19:57:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/files\/2012\/07\/MP900422720-300x300.jpg"}],"author":"Christine Agro, The Conscious Mom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/","name":"5 Steps to Help Your Child Overcome Fear - Life As A Conscious Mom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/files\/2012\/07\/MP900422720-300x300.jpg","datePublished":"2012-07-04T19:26:44+00:00","dateModified":"2012-08-23T19:57:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/#\/schema\/person\/9ab2ad4b6b50dd6754949eada3dd3331"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/files\/2012\/07\/MP900422720-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/files\/2012\/07\/MP900422720-300x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/2012\/07\/04\/5-steps-to-help-your-child-overcome-fear\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Steps to Help Your Child Overcome Fear"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/","name":"Life As A Conscious Mom","description":"Parenting, Parenting Advice, Tips For Moms and Lifestyle Advice for Women","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/#\/schema\/person\/9ab2ad4b6b50dd6754949eada3dd3331","name":"Christine Agro, The Conscious Mom","description":"Christine Agro has degrees in Naturopathy and Western Herbs from The School of Natural Medicine and is an internationally recognized Clairvoyant and Spiritual Teacher. Her work focuses on supporting women, families and children in all phases and stages of their lives. She is the author of 50 Ways to Live Life Consciously and the creator of The Conscious Living Wisdom Cards (Standard and Special Moms' Edtions). Using her unique approach, Christine provides clients with a truly holistic overview of their health, wellness, well-being and their life journey. Praised by grateful women, parents, and celebrity clients across the globe for her intuitive and extraordinary gifts as a healer, she has been hailed as \u201cmagical\u201d, \u201ctransformational\u201d and \u201cinspiring.\u201d Christine has been featured in The New York Times and hailed a gift to moms by RealSavvyMoms.com. She has been interviewed on radio shows around the world, quoted in health and consumer magazines and e-zines nationwide and she is the founder of The Conscious Mom\u2019s Guide website. \u2022 Christine enjoys supporting women in all stages and phases of life. \u2022 Christine sees the power of today\u2019s children and seeks to support them in retaining their inner light. \u2022 She believes in living life passionately and purposefully. \u2022 She believes in the body\u2019s natural ability to heal and supporting that ability. \u2022 She believes children are conscious beings who have an unlimited capacity to understand and learn. \u2022 She believes children should be treated with respect and given the support and guidance to help them understand the world they have chosen to live in. \u2022 She believes all relationships offer us insight into what we want to learn and heal this lifetime. \u2022 She believes we all have the power to live a passionate and purposeful life. Using her clairvoyance combined with her background in naturopathic healing, herbs, homeopathy, aromatherapy, nutrition and more Christine offers conscious insight and healing support into areas such as relationships, parenting, pregnancy and spiritual growth. Find out more about Christine Agro, her work and how to schedule a reading at www.christineagro.com and check out The Conscious Mom's Guide at www.theConsciousMomsGuide.net to join a growing group of conscious parents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.theconsciousmomsguide.net"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/author\/cagro\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/495"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeasaconsciousmom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}