I've posted before about passing our own fears on to our child, and how I try not to pass on irrational fears or make her afreaid of things she shouldn't be afraid of. There are things that children should be scared of though, and fair or not, I have started using it to my advantage, as there are times when nothing else sems to work, or when I need her to know there is danger.
Yup, my daughter is scared to run into the road because cars are big and she is small, and I encourage a healthy level of fear of moving vehicles and the lack of safety to be found in the road. She should be scared of strangers, not to the point of not speaking to the nurse at the doctors office, but enough not to talk to random strangers in the grocery store or to wander away with them. It's normal to be afraid of the open oven, growling dogs, and fires.
Whatever your beliefs it is true that people have basic fears in order to keep us safe. Whether we are programmed by God, mother nature, or simple survival of the fittest changes, fear is how people survive. Over coming fears is a part of life and helps us grow and experience things we otherwise would avaid, but those fears in their most basic form are meant to be helpful and productive for people. If we had no fears then certainly people would drive too fast with no seatbelts, endangering both themselves and others, and jump off of bridges with no bungee cord, or run around doing any number of unsafe things. Sure, there will always be people who do things we deem unsafe, but there are safety measures in place to help save the majority of people to avoid danger. Cars have seatbelts, towns have fire halls, and people wear safety gear. These measures have been put in place because we are afreaid of what can happen if we dont' use them, and rightfully so. These items have saved lives over and over again.
It is normal for your child to be afraid of things that are unknown and new, and of things that have hurt them before. These are reactions they are supposed to have, iti s the worlds way of keeping them alive and safe. As long as you can pinpoint the good fear (standing on a train track with a train coming) from an unproductive fear (worms on the sidewalk) and help them learn to distinguish between them and overcome the ones they should then fear should not overcome their lives and they shall grow to make their own choices and decisions based upon fact rather then straight fear.
Yup, my daughter is scared to run into the road because cars are big and she is small, and I encourage a healthy level of fear of moving vehicles and the lack of safety to be found in the road. She should be scared of strangers, not to the point of not speaking to the nurse at the doctors office, but enough not to talk to random strangers in the grocery store or to wander away with them. It's normal to be afraid of the open oven, growling dogs, and fires.
Whatever your beliefs it is true that people have basic fears in order to keep us safe. Whether we are programmed by God, mother nature, or simple survival of the fittest changes, fear is how people survive. Over coming fears is a part of life and helps us grow and experience things we otherwise would avaid, but those fears in their most basic form are meant to be helpful and productive for people. If we had no fears then certainly people would drive too fast with no seatbelts, endangering both themselves and others, and jump off of bridges with no bungee cord, or run around doing any number of unsafe things. Sure, there will always be people who do things we deem unsafe, but there are safety measures in place to help save the majority of people to avoid danger. Cars have seatbelts, towns have fire halls, and people wear safety gear. These measures have been put in place because we are afreaid of what can happen if we dont' use them, and rightfully so. These items have saved lives over and over again.
It is normal for your child to be afraid of things that are unknown and new, and of things that have hurt them before. These are reactions they are supposed to have, iti s the worlds way of keeping them alive and safe. As long as you can pinpoint the good fear (standing on a train track with a train coming) from an unproductive fear (worms on the sidewalk) and help them learn to distinguish between them and overcome the ones they should then fear should not overcome their lives and they shall grow to make their own choices and decisions based upon fact rather then straight fear.