Are your kids afraid of the dark?

DS, yes, he is Kind of afraid of the dark. He would never go outside and check on the chickens or something. Or he's afraid of going down to our basement.

DD, on the other hand, is way too practical for such nonsense. She will totally walk out in our backyard to care for our chickens.

As a child, I was way more like DS.

I have the biggest chicken children ever!! They are all afraid of everything....LOL.  They are afraid to go upstairs alone, downstairs alone, the dark, monsters, scary movies - you name it!! Finally I am seeing a tiny bit of change in my biggest one but its taking forever!!

DD never had big fears. Now that she is almost 11 she has a slight fear of heights, which I think is fairly normal at this age. Her biggest fear is the Dr. Who "Don't Blink" episode - you know, the one with the angel statues that come to life. When we were looking for houses to buy, there was one house that was down the road from a nursing home that had a big angel statute in the front. I'm glad that house didn't work out because DD did NOT like driving past there.

 

When she was small and would come up with a new fear, hubby would incorporate that fear into her nighttime story. Let's say she was afraid of spiders, he'd tell a story where she would at first be afraid of the spiders then she'd turn around and decide to fight them, then just before she was about to win the battle the spiders would beg for their lives and explain how they really are good spiders and how they do so much good in the world and were really just trying to protect DD from those nasty mosquitoes and stuff like that. Great job, hubby! Now DD loves bugs and wants to keep bringing them into the house. Ugh! (Mommy is still afraid of bugs.)

 

And those stories were always "dark stories" - her and hubby would sit in the dark with flashlights to tell the stories. Being in the dark was a big treat.

 

When it came to lightening, we'd take her outside and sit on the big porch swing and oooo-and-ahhhhh at the lightning like it was a fireworks show or something.

My kids are pretty fearless, they don't let anything slow them down. As a parent it's kind of a nightmare lol

All 3 of my kids insist on some sort of light to fall asleep. My 12 yo nephew is the worst. Afraid of the dark, afraid of the basement, afraid of being outside in the dark. LOL

I am still afraid of the dark, and both girls are too. We have night lights in every room and flashlights by our beds and by each door.

The girls are scared of everything. We live in a single wide trailer with a long hall. Youngest won't even walk down the hall to the bathroom unless oldest or I go with her.

Spiders are the worst. If there is a spider anywhere in this place, oldest WILL find it, and then she won't sleep at all because she is still thinking about it (yes, we kill them, she still freaks out).

I think a lot of fears are learned behaviors, especially coming from a parent or other adult. If the parent is scared of something then the child (a young child especially) will be scared of it too.

I believe this is true as well.

I didn't mean to make them afraid of the dark, and they don't know that I am, but always having the night lights on means that they are scared if there is no light at all.

I don't think my kids are really afraid of the dark, but my boys have always slept with a light on, so I am not sure. They don't have any problems when thay are other places, like camp.