Kikerpill 1 Jonny Kikerpill Mrs.

Steele ENGL- 1102 10 April 2014 Academic Genre Fear of the dark has been a prevalent topic for children for a long time. It is the first fear I think of when I think of any childs list of fears. It is unknown what the universal reason is, because all children have different reasoning. People with irrational fears have different circumstances regarding why theyre scared, even some think their fear is rational. The first thing to do is to define and understand irrational. Talia J, a writer/blogger from Australia wrote an article about irrational fear. She compares it to another commonly used name, phobia, which is something abnormal. Someone has an irrational fear if they seem to avoid it and cringe at the thought of it. Most natural fears are something we can admit will most likely not happen. But for the people with irrational fears, it is harmful and makes them do rituals to avoid it (the same rituals done by people with OCD) (J 1). So is the fear of dark irrational? I think it can be in a sense. Being scared of the dark is one thing, but if the child or person doesnt reach into the back of the pantry, or has to keep all the lights on during the night, then its irrational. Richard Joyce is a philosopher and professor at the University of Wellington in New Zealand. In Rational Fear of Monsters, Richard Joyce states: Moreover, if the person frightened by The Exorcist continued to be terrified, was still shaking days later, was unable to go to work, etc., then wed describe him as having an irrational fear. This

Kikerpill 2 suggests that we recognize irrational fear when we see it, and, in the case of the normal person whose horror quickly wears off, we do not see it (Joyce 5). This is a good point on fear in general and how others may look at it a different way. I might not be able to find the cause for every childs fear of the dark, but I want to at least uncover the vulnerability of the child. Children get vulnerable when they fear the dark, thinking a form of danger will chase them or attack them if they go into the dark. I also want to find out why it is a longterm effect on some people. Karen Thompson Walker is a writer from San Diego that touches on subjects related to this. She talks about the different routes we take to escape fear. She uses the example of sailors who didnt go to an island, thinking it was infested with cannibals. Moreover, the sailors went without hitting land and most died. I think it is interesting how we assume the fear will hurt or haunt us. Maybe if we face it, we will find out it isnt all that bad. If the sailors faced their fear and went to the island, they wouldve found out it wasnt full of cannibals. Sometimes taking the safe way out only makes it worse. Is there a time the safe way actually turned it worse for you? Walker talked about the wrong ways to escape fear, but what about the right ways? What do we do once we know our irrational fear? I interviewed my sister, who has a daughter over a year old. I asked her questions about her fears and how to cope with them. She said that she hasnt seen any signs of her being scared of the dark, but may be too young to tell. However, there were other things that contributed to her fear. She is scared of men with beards, mostly strange men; men with deep voices; Santa and the Easter Bunny at thee mall; loud noises and the dog barking. Most of these are very rational though. Being scared of strange manly men is understandable, especially because

Kikerpill 3 her dad doesnt have a deep voice or beard. Also, most children at a young age are scared of the Easter Bunny or Santa. Lastly, when she hears a loud noise, it will startle her and make her cry. There was one thing that could be related to fear of the dark but also might just be a sign of not wanting to be alone. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants her mom, but most one year olds will do that. Overall, it doesnt seem like my niece is scared of the dark. My sister had some easy but helpful ways to cope with the fear of the dark. One idea was to make up a story that she can read to her. In the story, the darkness just means night, so whenever it gets dark it just means its time to go to bed. Her other idea was to research a book. I personally think facing fear is the best way to rid it. When you face fear, rational or irrational, it will most likely become less of a danger. Another thing to do is to face it early on, before it gets involved in the mental and emotional side that people tend to overthink. Once a fear is planted in your head, it is harder to get it out. However, I think its different with children. Putting them in a dark room and locking the door isnt going to make them less afraid, because children are more venerable. One way a child can overcome fear of the dark is to walk them into the room or down the hallway, and turn the lights on to show them nothing is hiding there. If the darkness is exposed, the child might realize nothing will harm him/her. From what I looked at, it seems that not every child is scared of the dark. It is very prevalent though, but can be treated with simple tasks. For babies, fear of the dark can be mistaken with wanting their moms at night (such as my niece). Overall, I think it is something that a child gets overtime, and not from birth.

Kikerpill 4 Works Cited J, Talia. When Irrational Fears take over your Life. HubPages. 23 May. 2012. Web. 20 April. 2014.

Joyce, Richard. Rational fear of monsters. British Journal of Aesthetics. 2000. Web. 20 April. 2014.

Walker, Karen Thompson. What fear can teach us. Ted. June. 2012. Web. 20 April. 2014.