Scared

[Nefret]

My 6 year old has always been a bit scared of the dark and things but recently she has got worse. She wont go to sleep unless I am with her in the romm, she wont go into any room if the light is off, even her own bedroom, she wont even go to the loo on her own. If she wakes in the night, she just hides under her covers and screams until I go in.

I have asked her what it is she is scared of and it keeps changing, sometimes it is monsters, once she said there was a ghost in the hall and now it is wolves and vampires! I think they have been talking about it at school!

I have tried telling her these things aren't real and she knows thaey aren't real but she is still scared and I don't know how to help her.

Has anyone else had this? If so how did you overcome it?

Dd1 is scared of the dark. I leave the landing light on and the door open slightly. She also has a little wind up torch for going to the loo with. They grow out of it.

My dcs sleep with the lights on and have done for years. I think it's reasonably common.

I think this is quite normal. I slept with the landing light on and the door wide open till I was into my teens . I actually had a massive vampire phobia at about your DD's age and had awful nightmares.

Is there a landing light or small light that could be left on? Also, is there anything in particular in the room that she finds scary - I used to be terrified of the dressing gown on the back of my door, it never occurred to me to move it!

I was like this, and still don't really like the dark more than 30 years later

I used to have a nightlight on all the time. One that's dim enough to not be too distracting, but light enough so you can see into all the dark corners in the room

She's just got a very active imagination

She does have a night but she is even scared in the day! She certainly does have an active imagination..

Can add to minipie that I too slept with landing light on right until my teens and also had phobia of going to loo on my own even during the day (seem to recall falling in once which might have done it!)

I disagree, I think leaving the light on re-enforces the idea that the dark is something to be afraid of : it isn't. Secondly, sleeping with a light on affects sleep patterns, the brain is wired to sleep when it's dark.

I find it hard to sleep in the dark as I am claustrophobic and need to be able to see that the walls aren't closing in on me! (yes I know I'm suposed to be a grown-up) I don't see any harm in leaving a light on - it's never affected my sleep whereas trying to sleep in the dark would be hopeless.
I do think it's important though not to let your DD make too many of the rules here. If you are leaving a light on for her there is really no need to stay in the room while she goes to sleep - that can be a hard habit to break. I would leave whatever light on that she needs but be firm that it's not dark and she doesn't need you to stay with her. If she gets upset you can go back to her if necessary but keep stressing that she doesn't need to be scared as it's not dark and she is a big girl and can go to sleep by herself.
If you stay with her she is kind of getting something out of her fears and she will want to continue with it rather than getting over it.