what is the best way to deal with a 3yo who is 'scared of the fox under her bed' or the 'lion in the bathroom' etc

[dontwanttogetoutofbed]

i always turn on the light and show her there is nothing there which she likes, and i know this is just a phase, but what is the best way to deal with it to give her confidence and avoid her creating a fear?

Ive had this with our youngest son hes afraid of foxes and wolves dunno why so we did all the checks then we made a dream catcher just a circle of card with a central hole embroidery thread criss crossed across the centre and decorated it with an old bead necklace of mine and some feathers we all made one and we told matts who was about 5 these caught bad dreams and scarey feelings and now he wouldnt get them again .....and he didnt!!
apparently a fear as real as this stems from a worry they may have had during the day she may have seen a scarey dog/wolf bear in the day and filed it away later at night in the dark all these feeling bubble out and thats why scares at night are so bad for little ones .......i love the bear coming to live with u idea though .....

see what happens when you talk it through? what is the lion doing? what's he going to do? where's he hiding? what does he look like? on and on and on longer than you might think possible. my ds's can spin out a tale for hours and even though it always starts off with 'he's going to eat me' somehow it ends up being quite funny and they relax. all to do with taking their fears seriously apparently