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| |    Fear of the Dark by Dr. Benjamin Spock reviewed by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. If your child develops a fear of the dark, try to reassure her. This is more a matter of your manner than your words. Don't make fun of her or be impatient with her or try to argue her out of her fear. If she wants to talk about it, as a few children do, let her. Give her the feeling that you want to understand but that you are absolutely certain that nothing bad will happen to her. Naturally you should never threaten her with monsters or policemen or the devil. Avoid scary movies and TV programs and cruel fairy tales. The child is afraid enough of her own mental creations. Call off any battle that you might be engaged in about eating or staying dry at night. Keep her behaving well by firm guidance rather than by letting her misbehave and then making her feel guilty about it afterward. Arrange to give her a full, outgoing life with other children every day. The more she is absorbed in games and plans, the less she will worry about her inner fears. Leave her door open at night if that is what she wants, or leave a dim light on in her room. It's a small price to pay to keep the goblins out of sight. The light, or the conversation from the living room, won't keep her awake so much as her fears will. When her fear subsides, she will be able to stand the dark again.
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