Fear is a typical response to new challenges or experiences. These situations make children feel uncertain, vulnerable, powerless, and anxious. They strip away a child’s sense of security and control. As a result, many children avoid the unfamiliar. They prefer NOT to risk attempting something new, leading to missed opportunities, and setting a negative pattern that can persist into adult life. Here are seven strategies and activities we can use to raise children who aren’t afraid to tackle new situations, skills, or obstacles with confidence
Be Supportive of Effort, Progress, and the Process
Kids may fear trying new things for several reasons, including environment, upbringing, past experiences, and temperament. It is important to praise effort, progress, and the process rather than only praising successful outcomes. Praising process is also important because it shows your child there’s more than one way to do something. Show your child that “success” isn’t necessarily dependant on outcomes. Success can mean a willingness to try, put forth your best effort, and show gradual improvement.
Make an “I can” Can
Print out strips of paper with the sentence starter “I can,” written on them. Then, allow your child to fill in the blanks. Help them brainstorm, while enabling them to come up with suggestions of their own as well. Put the strips in a can, and have your child add more strips whenever they learn a new skill or conquer a new challenge.
Keep an “Adventure Diary”
If your child can view new challenges as exciting rather than intimidating, they’ll have the courage to pursue their full potential.
Help them shift their perspective by keeping an adventure diary. In the diary, you’ll detail all the adventures you’ve had as a result of trying new things. Write about all the times your child was brave and attempted something new and update the diary regularly. If possible, you can add pictures, drawings, or small mementoes for decoration. Also include details about how well your child did or how much fun you and your child had when he tried this new activity.
The next time your child is afraid to try something new, break out the adventure diary, and talk about the great times you had because your child was brave enough to try.
Ask the Right Questions
You can ask your child questions like, “Is there anything that used to be difficult or a little scary for you that’s now much easier?” Remind your child that all the abilities they have now were new at one point. They weren’t born with them; they had to learn, practice, and persist. To put your child’s fears in perspective, ask questions like: What’s the worst thing that could happen? What evidence suggests that this might happen? What is more likely to happen?, What would you tell a friend who felt this way?
When you talk to your child about trying new things, make it a discussion rather than a lecture. Listen to your child’s worries and help them talk through and confront these fears.
Incorporate Brain Breaks
While you should encourage your child to take risks, you should avoid pushing too hard. You want your child’s experiences with trying something new to be positive so that they won’t become even more risk averse.
Incorporate short activities that disrupt the monotony of a child’s current task. You can suggest a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, challenge your child to ‘reinvent’ a random object for other uses, provide a story starter for your child to complete, etc.
Because these brain breaks are a bit silly, they’ll brighten your child’s mood, take their mind off their fears, and help them face the task at hand with renewed energy. Plus, the fun memories you create will show your child that trying new things isn’t so bad, after all.
Conduct Dress Rehearsals
If your child is nervous about meeting their teacher for the first time, you can pretend to be the teacher and let your child practice how they will greet her. Practice conversations, greetings, and other interactions that make your child feel nervous.
These dress rehearsals will familiarize your child with new situations, making them feel less unfamiliar and scary. You can even practice how to handle these situations if the “worst-case scenario” were to occur. As your child begins to feel confident and prepared, their worries about new social situations will dissipate.
Make a “Bravery Ladder”
To create a bravery ladder, help your child identify steps that will help them gradually achieve a new skill or conquer fear. Think of it like learning to ride a bike starting with training wheels.
Source: Big Life Journal (2022). 7 Ways to Encourage Your Child to Try New Things. Retrieved from biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/encourage-child-to-try-new-things
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