Secrets of Mind and Reality

Help Your Child With A Fear Of Darkness

I remember running from the light switch on my bedroom wall to my bed, jumping as far as I could so that nothing could reach out from under my bed to snatch me away. I always slept with arms and legs tucked into the blankets, and would freak out if I woke up to find a limb hanging over the edge of the bed. In a big way, I still worry about something hanging over as an adult, though it is more habit than anything else. I had a huge fear of darkness that I have mostly gotten over, but my daughter now shares those same fears with me.

There are many, many children that have a fear of darkness. This is why you will not find many children who will sleep in a room without a nightlight or other small source of illumination. We start with these so that we can see when we must go into the nursery or the bedroom when they woke in the night. That does not add to the fear of darkness, but that nightlight is something that many children will want to use for many years after they have started sleeping through the night.

The fear of the dark children have is because they feel that night is alien, and they can not see what is in their room. When there is a source of light of any type, like a streetlight coming into the window or a glow from under the door, things in the room can look funny and different to them, and that can be very scary. That even happens to me once in a while as an adult. I can reason it away, but most children have highly active imaginations, and all they know is that they are scared. That leads to a fear of darkness that they may not get over for a very long time.

There are a few things you can do when you have a child that is afraid of the dark. You can have a nightlight in their room that is bright enough so that things do not take on a grotesque form, but not so bright that they can not sleep. You can also have nightlights in the hallway and bathroom so that their fear of darkness does not stop them from using the restroom at night. Some children can pee the bed because they are too scared to get out of it.

You can also give them a few extra things if that does not go a long way towards helping with their fear of darkness. One thing you can do is to have a flashlight in their room that they can use whenever they want. You can also make sure that there is nothing under the bed and check the closet for them each night before they go to sleep. Also make sure that closet doors are closed before sleep. If you have pets, keep the bedroom door closed so those pets can not go inside the room at night. You may even come up with your own ideas about helping with fear of darkness.