FEAR
Fear is a normal emotion and in small doses is adaptive, as it can even help us to be cautious and even to survive.
Children's fears come and go and change as they grow up. They vary according to their stage of development and the situations they experience.
Fears begin around the first year of life and are most prevalent between the ages of 4 and 6.
We could talk about different stages, although the ages are approximate and depend very much on each child and his or her maturity.
Until the age of 3 years or so, separation anxiety predominates, i.e. the fear of separation from parents or other adults.
From approximately 4 to 6 years of age, fears are linked to the cognitive development of the child, where imagination and the fantastic world take centre stage and therefore monsters, darkness, ghosts, strange beings, etc. enter the scene.
From the age of 6/7 - 11/12 years, fears will become more realistic, also according to their stage of development. Fears related to death, harm, accidents, doctors, injections, life experiences, etc. may appear here. But other more social fears also come into play and can affect their emotional development, self-esteem and self-acceptance. Fear of not being accepted, fear of criticism, of making mistakes, of not being good enough, of death, of separation from parents in an argument.
The personal experiences of each child become more important, they can anticipate much more things that may happen and therefore this means that they can already foresee and anticipate future things.
Although fear is part of the development of children, when it is experienced in an excessively intense or frequent way is when anxiety or panic is experienced, the child becomes blocked, interferes in carrying out daily life activities and reduces their autonomy (constant stomach ache every time they have to take an exam, difficulty falling asleep, sleeping alone, etc.) at this time it is necessary to intervene to give them tools that allow them and their parents to manage their emotions.