Fear in children from 7 to 8 years

Children know fear from the earliest childhood, this being an emotion that allows you to protect yourself from the dangers. Fear is a normal defense mechanism and necessary in children that makes them behave in a more protected way. Generally, fear appears because children learn to fear something or

Children know fear from the earliest childhood, this being an emotion that allows you to protect yourself from the dangers. Fear is a normal defense mechanism and necessary in children that makes them behave in a more protected way.

Generally, fear appears because children learn to fear something or a situation after an unpleasant experience.

What fears appear between 7 and 8 years

Fears in childhood change with age. As children grow up, one type of fear may continue, disappear or be replaced by another. In this stage the fears begin to be less imaginary (although we can still find some) and more based on reality. When children are between 7 and 8 years old, we can still find these types of fears:

- Fear of darkness (nictofophy). The fear of the dark is one of the most suffered by children between 2 and 8 years of age. Nictofobia can appear after an image seen in a story, a movie, etc. In addition, an experience during the day or imagination can be the engines for this fear to appear.

Many times this fear is not the darkness itself, but the risks that children imagine there may be when there is gloom

- Fear of animals. It is a fear that begins to develop in the stage of 2 years, and can last as a phobia until maturity and, therefore, we can find it in this age range. This type of fear is evolutionary, that is to say, that we have it in an innate way, and that is why it makes children perceive animals as a threat.

In addition, fear of animals can sometimes arise from bad experiences, and in other circumstances because the adults surrounding the child transmit that fear. It can be triggered even before the animal is present, when it foresees that it will meet with it, and thus avoid the encounter or flee from it.

- Fear of supernatural beings. This fear appears in the stage of 3-4 years and lasts until adolescence. The fear of the supernatural is related to the darkness, where it acquires greater strength.

This darkness causes insecurity by not seeing anything around and noises and imagination can make the child believe that there are many "supernatural" threats around. In addition, this fear may appear because of the threats of adults to control the behavior of children. Tell them that the "coconut" is coming, for example. In addition to these fears that last, in this stage it appears:

- The fear to make the ridiculous by the absence of school, social or sporting abilities. At this stage, it is common to see children who do not want to participate in collective games such as sports or competitions because there appears in them a belief that they do not measure up, or that they can not do as well as the rest.

When these situations occur, negative thoughts appear in the children that make the child paralyze and look weak and unable to do.