Sunday, October 5, 2014

It's okay to be scared

Dear Mommies,

It's that time of year when little kids put on masks, demand candy and then run around like crazy. Or maybe I have that backwards?

Every year, the costumes seem to get scarier and scarier. There's more gore, more horror movies and more games that extol bloodshed. I don't think kids should be exposed to that stuff. They don't always have the ability to put things in perspective.

Here's what they see:


Here's what it really looks like (magnified):



Our little ones see things on a much different scale than we do. And that's why I think we need to protect them (for a little while longer) from horror and gore. We ought to check under the beds for monsters and tell them that zombies are fake. And that it's okay to be scared. They will learn all too quickly about the ghoulish realities of things like heartbreak, failure, divorce, unemployment, cancer and death.

Encourage your little ones to tell you when and why they are fearful. Tell them about the things you were scared of as a little kid (I was scared of spiders!). What was your big childhood fear?

Relax mommies, you got this!