Many children have insect fears. If such fear is strong enough and already develops into a phobia, then this gives a lot of discomfort, both to the child himself and to his parents. Especially if the child is afraid of spiders, which are often found in his life.
Degree of fear
Most often, children are only afraid of living spiders when they meet them on the street, for example. The worst thing for these guys is to take the spider in their arms. If a child is only afraid of touching spiders, then it is better not to pay attention to such fear at all. Just calmly help the child move away from the spider or remove it from the child's clothes. Your excessive emotional reaction in this case can only reinforce the fear. But just calmness he will learn from you.
The next degree of fear: the child begins to scream or cry when he just sees a spider from afar. In this case, you may well be able to work independently with the child in order to form in him an even attitude towards this insect.
The biggest fear is that the child is afraid even of painted spiders. In this case, it is better to contact a child psychologist, since in this case we are already talking about a phobia. If the child's fear of spiders is so strong, it is required not only to rid the child of the phobia, but to find out its causes. Otherwise, instead of the fear of spiders, an equally strong fear of something or someone else may appear.
Formulate a goal
It is impossible to teach not to do something. Before you rid your child of their fear of spiders, consider what you want in return. What behavior do you want to teach your child? What kind of attitude do you want to form in the end? Formulate such a goal for yourself in a positive form, that is, without using a particle, not. For example, "so that the child is indifferent to spiders."
Don't appeal to the mind of a child
Fear is an experience. And feelings are far from always logical and explicable. The root of fears is always in the realm of the unconscious and defies rational explanation. Your arguments about the safety of spiders may be very logical, but they will not add a drop of courage to a child. Therefore, you should not fight the child's fears, simply explaining to him the meaninglessness of his experiences.
Since the root of the problem lies in the unconscious, then it is necessary to influence this sphere.
Drawings and fairy tales
The unconscious does not know logic, but it perfectly perceives images and symbols. Therefore, you need to get rid of fears with their use.
Drawings are the easiest and most effective way to deal with childhood fears. Draw spiders with your child as often as possible. Write stories about spiders and portray them on paper. Try to use bright colors in such drawings.
Writing stories and tales about spiders is also a good way to love them. The first option: to come up with stories where the main character will behave boldly in relation to spiders. Such a hero should look like your child, bear a name that sounds like him. So the child will subconsciously learn the possible options for behavior.
Another version of fairy tales: the main character is a spider. In such tales, the spider must be a positive character. Think up with whom he will be friends, who and how to help, etc.
Perhaps you will find cartoons in which there are spider heroes. But such heroes should not be negative. If in a cartoon all the characters are afraid of spiders, then such stories are unlikely to help a child cope with his fears.
Fill your child's life with spider contact
The child is afraid to take the spider - let him look at him from afar. Chat with your child while looking at the insect: is this spider similar to the one you recently drew? Or maybe this is the spider you wrote the story about?
Invite your child to buy a bright, beautiful book about insects in the store, where there will be a chapter on spiders. Or find a high-quality interesting popular science film about them. The more the child sees spiders, talks about them, etc., the more calmly he will relate to them.
You can always turn to a psychologist for help in overcoming childhood fear of spiders if you feel that you cannot cope on your own.
