Not Be Afraid of the Dark

Most kids when they're little are afraid of the dark, and sometimes that fear gets carried on throughout their life. So here are some tips to make those bumps in the nights disappear.

Steps

 * 1) Try to figure out what exactly causes your fear. Does your house make strange noises at night? Or have you watched too many horror movies lately?
 * 2) Use logic. After you've found out what frightens you, try to reason with yourself. A lot of people have big imaginations and can make the smallest thing seem terrifying. Are you afraid of someone breaking in? If so, lock all your doors and windows at night and remember that if someone did break in, it would make a lot of noise that you would most likely hear. Or for kids, make it into a game. Before you tuck your kid/s into bed, have them help you check everywhere! The closets, under the bed, in their dresser.  This is amazing and it really works. It does not take long and has immediate effect.
 * 3) Think about other things. When you're in bed trying to go to sleep, try to fill your mind with positive thoughts. Plan what you'll do tomorrow. Make a mental list of things you'll need for your next vacation (even if it is a couple of months away). Just basically do anything to avoid bad thoughts. You can also try to listen to music in your mp3 player or iPod.
 * 4) Try to think of your fear in a humorous way. Scary Movie (1,2,3,and 4) parodies many frightening things. Chuckling at yourself diminishes the fear. For instance, imagine all the monsters dancing to a funny tune.
 * 5) Try to think, near bedtime, what scares you. Is it a noise? Now that you've acknowledged that the noise is bothering you, write down what the noise sounds like, and other things that usually happen along with the noise. Then, write a list of 10 things that may be what you think it is and narrow it down to 1-2 things, by comparing and contrasting the items. During the night, something may scare you and it is a thing, visually, then draw an amateur sketch of what it is, and write down where you usually see it. You may find is it is the "hand" on the wall, that "waves" at you, if so, draw it. Then, the next day, see if you can spot what resembles the object, such as a tree branches shadow, or a teddy bears head, or a hockey mask.
 * 6) Invite over friends or a close friend for a sleepover, so when you get scared, tell them what bothers you. Sometimes someone who knows well can use their knowledge about you to figure out what creeps you out.
 * 7) While you may be afraid of the dark due to a scary movie, or belief that you won't be alive to see tomorrow, think about this: the movie most likely isn't real (and for what reason would you die in the night?). Keep this in mind: When movie magic creeps you out, the less you know about it, the better. Don't give yourself a bigger scare by learning about all the gory details. Don't go on-line and look up the Story of Freddy, or The Blood Countess. Just think for a quick second, and forget. Totally erase the movie from your head for happy dreams, think about everything positive that happened to you that day. Think about everything happy that makes you feel good. This will be very hard, because it is a proven fact that the human brain remembers negative things more easily than positive. If this doesn't work, then tell a parent, guardian, or trusted adult; never getting over something like this may mean that it has left you traumatized. Alternately, you could watch the 'Making of' feature on the DVD: it will show you how they did all the scary/gory scenes, and make them less scary, (it works, trust me).
 * 8) Sometimes, being alone in the dark is just plain scary. Try not to go crawling into your roommates bed or your Mummy and Papa's bed! Invest in something like a Build-A-Bear or and American Girl Doll for a bedtime buddy to slumber with. These items would do extremely well because they are meant to be companions,(pets also work) therefore they make a great alternative to having your best friend sleep over all the time. Sometimes you may have to go back to the blanket, there is nothing wrong with it. Or maybe an old toy that used to " protect you" from the " bed bugs" in you bed may help you feel more secure.
 * 9)  If you are only scared of the dark in certain rooms, it might be something in the room, and not the dark. Try taking it out of the room. Things in the dark can always look bigger, scarier and they may even look like they have a stranger shape. Look at them exactly as they are, and tell yourself over and over that it's just a wardrobe/television/etc.
 * 10)  Buy a nightlight. This could be a lava lamp, a dim lamp or just a normal light. A lot of people can cure their fear in the dark by spending a couple of months with a light on in their room as they go to sleep.
 * 11) Lastly, you could be having nightmares that are too realistic to bear. Immediately tell your care taker, trusted adult and/or a counselor. Often realistic nightmares could be evidence of something that still bothers you.

Tips

 * Nothing is stopping you from sleeping with your parents. There is no law about it. So why not?

Warnings

 * If you want some extra light, don't turn on every single light on in the house! It's wasteful and expensive.
 * Try to avoid scary movies when you know you have to wake up early or really need the sleep. It's best to watch them on weekends when it wouldn't matter if you stayed up late.
 * If you sleep with your parents and wet the bed, it will be very embarrassing.

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Overcome Fear
 * How to Conquer a Fear
 * How to Overcome the Fear of Injections
 * How to Overcome Phobia