Child is scared of neighbours

[purpleme12]

My neighbour was harassing us
My child witnessed one incident of this
Well two I guess
Anyway the harassment seems to have stopped (fingers crossed it doesn't start again)
However I am left with the lasting effects on my child
My child is 8. Whenever she hears him or sees him she hides. Earlier today she was in the drive and heard him and saw him going to his car and immediately got scared and came to hide so they couldn't see her
She'll even hide in the house if she sees them out the window
God knows what it's going to be like in summer cos they're out there all the time
I am so devastated for my child that she's left like this
I don't know what to do cos I can't stop them being there
She's still scared of him 😢😢😢😢☹️☹️☹️

If anyone has any bright ideas about how to make a child not scared so they can be in the same area please share
I don't know if I can mend this...

I had the same problem with our neighbour and my young dc, they would get very upset when they saw her and often cried too. She must have felt some remorse for her behaviour as she spitefully told me I made them scared of her! It helps a lot when I just remind myself that some people are dicks. They older now and don’t give her a second thought.

I'm really sorry.

I think it will take time.

Perhaps explain to her that sometimes adults do things that are very wrong and that's why we have police officers and that he has been stopped etc

Maybe talk to nspcc or other child experts and get advice

Thank you for your nice words

Would nspcc help with something like this?
I thought about getting advice but honestly I didn't know who to ask about something like this

They'd be a good place to start. I hope you get some useful advice. This is difficult.

I know it is not easy and often simply not possible but do you think if you can't ease her distress it would be possible to move?

I know it's so easy to suggest and that in RL it's not simple.

I wish I could but unfortunately I can't see a way to do that
I wish I hadn't bought it (for this reason)
I've moved from somewhere my child was comfortable to somewhere she's scared 😞
(They're next door as well)

Hopefully the nspcc can either give advice or tell you of local resources you can use

I really hope you get the help you need.

Give her a big cuddle and go easy on yourself. You're doing everything you can

I'll have a look at that

Thank you so much