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 Ellen Hollon, director of child life at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

Hollon 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 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 (and at night, if needed) 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.
• In the case of weather fears, talk to your child about what the family would do in case of an emergency so he knows a plan is in place should a natural disaster strike. A child might have heard about a tornado or another natural disaster but it happened in a different state. If that’s the case, it might be helpful to pull out a map and show the child exactly where the disaster struck to emphasize that it is far away and not a threat.