Frightened 7 year old, how can I help her?

[pinkmama]

My dd (7) is on the whole very mature and quite bright. We have been watching Dr Who as a family which she thoroughly enjoyed. however about 3 weeks ago there was an episode which absolutely terrified her. She said nothing at the time. Obviously I feel terrible that I let her watch something that would have such an impact, so please dont shoot me down for that. Since then she has been scared to go anywhere in the house alone at any time of day or night, she is like a limpet. At night she cant go to sleep because she is so scared. Obviously Dr Who is no longer watched, but what else can I do to help her get her courage back. She was never like this before. I really feel for her.

Could you get her a dreamcatcher for her room - 'to catch scary dreams before they start'?
Think the perfume/tissue idea is a good one.
Lots of sympathy to you both.

Thanks everyone for your help. I remember being allowed to watch the Wicker Man when I was about her age when staying at my Nanas . It terrified me, still gives me the creeps to this day. Also have to admit if a Dalek came around the street corner (as they do ) I would probably wet my knickers. In fact there was one in Ottakers last year and I could barely walk past it!
I will keep up the reassurance, and cuddles. Just hope she has grown out of it by the time this baby comes, otherwise who is going to run up and downstairs for things for me .

My 7 year old DS was a bit scared by the gas mask episode too and we had quite a lot of anxious questions about whether it was real over the next week (we always emphasis that they are pretend stopries but just seem more real because you can see them). Anyway, after being given the option not to he chose to watch the next episode which completed that story and I'm very gald he did because it was not scary and in fact completed that story with a happy ending. He's been perfectly happy about that story ever since.

Its a shame your DD didnt see the second part because I think it would probably have alleviated her anxiety (with a bit of explaining from you that the sparkly bits were trying to help but had just made a mistake). Do you know anyone who videoed it - might be worth a try. otherwise I thinks its just lots of reassurance that its just a story and can't be real. Part of Dr Who (and lots of other popular kids programmes is being scared - I remember watching Dr Who as a child from behind the sofa. We watch it with blankets on or knees so anyone (including grownups) who wants to hide from a scary bit can hide under the blanket.

Do you know that happened to me when I was 6 after watching the wizard of oz. All I can suggest is to make her bedtime routine as structured as possible, let her have a night light on and let her get in with you if she needs to.

i would get some of those flurescent stick on stars and moons for her room for the ceiling and walls so that they could "watch over her" at night

depending upon what she was into, i would get a special something that she could hold that had "protective magic qualities" to keep away anything "bad" (like a wand)

and something my father did with me, is that he took me into ever room in the house, holding my hand and with the lights on, we looked in every closet, under every bed, behind every door, and then he turned the lights off and we did the same thing with a torch, and then we would turn the torth off and sit on the ground and whisper stories about funny things - my father was a very pragmatic man - it made me less scared of the dark, so maybe it would help your daughter - good luck

DD 3.5 was terrified by the wheelie bin in the first one & I switched it off & hadn't let her watch it since. Last week she saw the Dalek in Ottakars & asked what it was. I explained it was from Dr Who & it wasn't a real monster blah blah & now she's pestering me to watch it again. I reminded her of the wheelie bin (bit harsh but I thought it'd put a stop to the argument) but she said she wasn't really scared & she knew it wasn't really eating him. We argued on till about 7.40 when I announced it was finished anyway. I'm going to have to pretend it's finished for good now in case she asks again. My point is that demystifying some of it may help. The programme they show on BBC3 or something after about the making of the episodes might reassure her it's pretend.
I think lucky charms type things are good sometimes but if a child loses something like that they can get really panicky or they rely on it too much. I have a friend who's well into her 30's & can't travel without a little green hippo & actually gets in a state of panic if she forgets it, thinking planes will crash etc. She's a very normal well adjusted person otherwise. Hope she gets over it.

I can't say this without embarassing myself - here goes - I have a teddy, my own teddy and I take him to bed. except when dd has had cause to be scared. coz my teddy has special powers to watch over dd and keep away scarey dreams. so I have been known to lend him to her. but only when she's really scared. And she has to promise to give him back

You watched the Wicker Man at 7, pinkmama?

I watched it at about 16 and it really disturbed me.

Would it help if you took your dd to an exhibit on WW2 where she could see gas masks and understand about them?

I think I was probably about 8 or 9 assumedname, but really quite shocking. What my nana thought she was doing I just dont know! It terrified me, and I couldnt watch it again to this day.

Well glad to report, that dd has decided, more or less of her own volition, that she is fed up of being scared and has been really pushing herself to get over it. Tonight is the first night she has gone to bed in her own room and stayed there. She is fast asleep now, so hope that that is it for now.

Thanks!

Hello
I also have a 7 yr old. He has watched every single episode of Dr Who and thoroughly enjoyed it. SO much so that we watched it on a Saturday and the the re-run on Sunday. His favoutirte one was "The Empty Child". we have recorded all of them so now when he goes to bed he watches whichever one he feels like. He also loves to watch Harry Potter, Lord of the rings and a few others.
When he was 3 he saw Harry Potter for the first time, that was when i explained to him about computer graphics and how things like "the bin eating Mickey" scenes are done. Since then he has had many opportunitites to watch programmes being filmed including the New series of Dr Who as it was being filmed locally. Rose Tylers flat is just up the road from us lol. He got to meet the main charachters and had a great day as it was also his birthday.
I would suggest that you get a book which explains computer graphics etc in a childs terms for her to understand it isn't real. Also if you stop her watching Dr Who you will only enforce her beliefs that it is real and very frightening when really it isn't at all.

Take care