“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH, HELP ME!” a young girl with a birthday cone hat on screams. All she wants to do was help celebrate her best friends 5th birthday with fun games, and delicious cake. But, she can’t do that, not with that monster all the adults call a clown. That’s not even the worst part. As she stands there screaming and crying in terror, and her own mother laughs. Yeah, that right, she laughs, because she doesn’t take her own daughter’s fears seriously.

Have you ever heard the saying “Everyone is equal.” You probably thought that meant race, gender, social status, and financial status. What most people don’t realize, is that age should be included in that list also. Because, a child scared of clowns is no different than an adult scared of bears. They both are terrified of something that in their mind is a monster. The same goes with children scared of animals, fire, and the dark, or anything else for that matter. There is no difference. Just because you are not scared of something does not mean someone that is shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Taking children’s fears seriously is a bigger issue than most adults perceive it as. Adults are awfully discourteous with the way they treat scared children. Most all adults and act like it’s no big deal, it’s so unbelievable. What you need to do is comfort them, tell them it’s going to be okay, and slowly teach them to face their fears. Let them do it on their own time, don’t ever force anything on a child. If you comfort the child, both of you will make much more progress than if you did something discourteous. Just take them seriously. From now on you should remember this way to that situation.

It’s not as hard as it seems. Once you do it a couple of times it will start to come naturally. Doing this will help you become a better person. Everyone will notice how you are slowly becoming a nicer person, and how you are more enjoyable to be around. How nice would that be? And to think it all started with taking a child seriously! Plus, your kids will not feel abandoned, or hurt by you, as he/she would if you did not take their fears seriously.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH, HELP ME!” a young girl with a birthday cone hat on screams. “Come here honey.” The mother cradles her kid in her arms. “Everything is going to be okay. I understand you baby girl.” Her caring mother lovingly says. “Oh Mommy, you’re the best,” the child coos. Her mother wipes the tears from her eyes and kisses her on both cheeks. The little girl smiles and thanks her mother. When you take kids seriously, it always works so much better.