ou probably don’t see it, but your child has. It’s behind the dresser: The big, dark shadow on the wall that becomes a frightening image for many children as nighttime grows near.

Although childhood fears about monsters in the closet, creatures in the dark, the weather and the first day of school are quite common, parents should try to ease those fears without dismissing the child’s feelings.

“Toddlers and preschoolers start remembering their nightmares or dreams, and because of their developmental age, they may have a hard time separating reality from their dreams,” says Vicki Kelley, a child life specialist at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.

Kelley says it’s best to provide concrete ways of combating those fears. Here are a few of her suggestions:

• Tell a story to your son or daughter about a child who was scared and list specific ways the child overcame his or her fear. For example, if a child gets scared at night, parents could sing a song with their child that the child could sing routinely each night.
• Use your child’s imagination to his or her benefit by suggesting specific ways to guard against monsters, such as wearing yellow pajamas or keeping a “magic” bottle of water beside the child’s bed.
• Go through the child’s closet during the daytime to show him exactly what is in the closet. Remind the child at night what you both saw in the closet during the day, and that nothing has changed since then.
• For weather fears, talk to your child about what the family would do in case of an emergency so he knows there is a plan in place. If your child has heard about a tornado or another natural disaster that happened in a different state, pull out a map and show the child exactly where the disaster struck to emphasize that it is far away and not a threat.