I don’t know if you would agree with me but sometimes, our culture puts too much premium on little boys being tough and brave. Boys shouldn’t cry. Boys shouldn’t be afraid of the dark. Boys shouldn’t be afraid of thunder and lightning. And the list goes on and on.
I am sure, though, that parents of little boys know better than that. Children are children and when they get exposed to something that they find scary, they can either become braver or more scared. This topic of children being scared came to mind earlier this week. I was just dredging up some memories and suddenly thought of how some parents try to shelter their children from anything remotely scary.
Television shows are strictly regulated and so are books, movies, and other media. While I do agree with this regulation (for other reasons), I believe that children should be exposed to “reasonably” scary material from time to time. The truth is that our children will be exposed to scary things and events no matter how much we shelter them.
If they are of school age, they will certainly hear about and maybe experience scary things outside of the home. Same thing if the children go outside to play. We just cannot control certain things! So how are we to handle this issue? What if your little boy is a scaredy cat?
I haven’t had a serious problem with this but in my experience, reassuring your child about his safety and at the same time making him aware of the realities of the situation works. How about you, what do you do to help your child with his fears?
Originally posted on August 15, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
