Childhood Fear Research Paper

Developing, and immature, cognitive mechanisms that characterize childhood make children particularly vulnerable to the development of fears. Although fears of this age are considered to be a rather normal evolutionary phenomenon, however, a normal child of primary school age suffers from an average of 11-13 strong and often persistent fears. These fears, in addition to the intense subjective discomfort they cause very often, can also interfere significantly with the daily functioning of the child at home, at school, or in the relationship with peers. It is important to separate childhood fears from childhood phobias. Their differences depend on the age of children, the way they appear, the frequency and the object or condition that is a phobic

Until the age of 12, all children may face normal fears for their development, which usually resolve without turning into phobias. One of the most common fears of pre-school children begins with the child’s beginning in kindergarten as it faces many unknown faces. The child may begin to cry, to refuse to enter the classroom with the other children and not to let his mother leave. This is the so-called “separation anxiety” that occurs naturally from the 7th to the second year of life and refers to the fear of losing care and the protection provided by the main reference person, especially the mother. Usually, after the second year, it gradually begins to decline, but it may even peak (from pre-school age to 18 years) in response to the separation or threat of loss or even without a cause of

Other fears of children of this age may be darkness, monsters, ghosts. These occur naturally as the child does not yet have the cognitive and emotional maturity to distinguish the real from the imaginary. Sometimes he may be afraid of some natural disasters, such as lightning and earthquakes, as they imagine incomprehensible phenomena. And in these cases children start to cry and ask for support from their mother. All of the above fears can easily recede as the child grows cognitively and the parents offer proper emotional support and security. At this point the help of the parents is important and necessary so that these fears can not be transformed into phobias. It is necessary for parents to reassure the child and help him cope with them. Parents who, with all their attitude, help the child to become independent and autonomous, encouraging it where necessary and supporting it at the same time will prevent fears from