How Do You Cope with Your Child's Fear? - A Mother's Calling

Two weeks ago I told you all that I was joining in on a meme that I feel is something I truly feel called to - being mom. Over at Fostering My Family, she has started a meme called A Mother's Calling. This meme will be every 2 weeks on Thursday and will focus on lots of different issues and areas inside the arena of MOM. I hope you all will join in and help us 'younger' moms so that we could all grow and learn from what others have to offer as suggestions.

Last week Fostering My Family posted this question as this week's topic:

How do you deal with your child’s fears, or how do you teach your child to deal with fear? This could be an imaginative fear (aka the monsters under the bed), a real fear as a result of something that has happened to the child, or maybe an innate fear.

So how do I deal with my own child's fears ... I'm not quite sure. I know that over the years my girls both have been awakened in the middle of the night for no 'real' reason. Whether it be a dream, a noise, or something else, they have awakened. Sometimes my eldest has awakened with such emotional crying all I can do is hold her and try to calm her down. She would be quite beside herself. Last night, Audrie, woke up and was walking to her door when I had come to meet her. She was telling my some gibberish (I really have no idea what she was saying or talking about). So I calmly took her in my arms and tried to make sure all was okay. I ended up taking her to the bathroom and then placing her back in bed while I prayed one more time for a good nights sleep. I do not even think she was quite all the way awake.

Some times, in the past, I know I have not handled these situations as well as I should have. I hope that over the years of being a mom and maturing as a person, that my attitude and demeanor towards these types of issues are always loving, kind, and with a gentle spirit.

There's a prayer I pray every night over my children as I put them to bed. I pray that the Lord would allow them to sleep the whole night peacefully and without interruption. I also pray that they would dream about the heavens, the angels and of Jesus. I even pray my prayers for them if I am not home with them putting them to bed, or if it's not 'my night' putting them to bed. I think prayer is one way to teach your children how to respond to issues especially those like fear.

Fear is real, whether we perceive the fear or not. I know that another thing I have learned is that I can not rationalize with a child who is in the midst of a fearful situation. I can try and calm them down and speak with a gentle tone to try and ease their pain.

So I hope you will join in over at Fostering My Family and link up with this week's topic. Please go here to post your ways to deal with a child who has fear.

And I hope you take some time and leave me a comment telling me any other ways to cope with the issue of fear.