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An incident at home triggered this topic. My son has so many irrational fears like the sight of a headphone, a mic and speakers, specific music tracks and songs, and so on.
We have been helping him overcome these fears by applying strategies like desensitization by frequent exposure, rationalizing, and so on. However, nothing seemed to work in the long run without our intervention.
Recently, my dear husband has just been very casual and nonchalant about the idea of removing one of my son’s peculiar fear of wearing headphones on. Whenever my hubby wears headphones, my son would just start feeling uncomfortable and tell his dad to remove them immediately by saying, “I am scared”. While I take the credit for helping my child label his emotions, it really did nothing to overcome the same. However, my husband has asked my son to just pull his fear from his heart and throw it away using his hands. The very next time, my son had applied this and started feeling better! How do we know he has overcome his fear at that moment? He wore the headphone all by himself immediately after the gesture of throwing the fear out! What a lovely and simple way to face the situation.
I would like to quote yet another example on similar lines. Whenever my son gets hurt or gets injured, he reaches out to his granny for a simple mantra that he believes to ameliorate his pain. A virtual reality!
The crux of the topic is that children certainly need anchoring onto something like a God figure or some superpower for rescue! Instilling spiritual faith in life through various forms, prayers, and aspects is very much needed for children for their emotional development as children aren’t ready for any rationalization as yet.
We, as adults, many times, need pilgrimages, rituals, mentors, and gurus when we are confronted with unfavorable situations, let alone children. For me, whenever I think of God, it’s always the universe, planets, and galaxies
Some ways to help children are as follows:
- Help children develop a positive perception of God. Parents can differ in their spiritual beliefs. Emphasize what you agree with rather than the differences.
- Always connect God to life and nature. This is my perception of God.
- Expose children to rituals and cultural beliefs. They will start rationalizing and make informed choices when they are developmentally ready for it!
- Use prayers as a tool to develop trust.
- Storytelling is the best way to instill faith and trust in life and God.
I hope this article will help many parents and children. Good luck
