Preventing a Fear of the Dark

This is something we started with Builder Boy and continued with Early Bird and Lady Bug:

Every time we put a baby in their own room and their own bed we walked into a dark room with them, using only the hall light coming through the door. That way we weren't turning the room light off when we left and our baby wasn't associating darkness with the loss of mom and dad/security. We did this from day one. (They also slept in completely dark rooms with no night light.)

As they got older we also avoided books and stories that are intended to "fix" a fear of the dark because we thought it would give the kids the idea in the first place. And so far, it's worked. Neither Builder Boy who will be 7 in a few months nor Early Bird who is 4 have been afraid of the dark.

Now that the boys are older we don't need to keep doing this with them. But we are doing it with Lady Bug so that she will hopefully avoid a fear of the dark, too.

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Do you have a tip that resulted in preventing a fear of the dark in your child? Comment and share!

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