Afraid

Children are often afraid of all sorts of things, some of them reasonable, some of them less so. Usually, the things that children are afraid of are the things that are unfamiliar to the children, the unknown. Even as adults, we are often afraid of new situations and the unexpected.

There are some common fears for children such as strangers, the dark, or loud noises. There are less common fears such as dogs, crowds, or heights. Then there are those fears that just kind of take you by surprise.

We are beginning our second week in our Camping study. We have discussed where people go camping, what they might do while they're camping, and the various materials needed for camping. We have discovered that very few of our children have any experience camping so we're aware that there's a lot for them to learn over the course of the next 5 weeks before school is over.

Today, we had planned to take the kids on a nature walk. The Head Start that I work at is in a suburban area with not a whole lot of wooded areas to explore, but there is a very short loop trail through about 1/4 acre of trees. The vast majority of the children in our class live in the local housing development placing them about 1/4-1/2 of a mile from this trail. I was absolutely shocked to discover that one of the children in my class was genuinely afraid to go into the woods with the rest of the class. Through much discussion and assurance that all would be safe, we managed to get him to be brave and face that which he was afraid of.

We had an open discussion along the way to the trail about how we are all often afraid of what is new. He was afraid to go on a nature walk because he didn't know what to expect. I promised him that when we go for a nature walk next week that he won't feel scared because it will be something he has done before.

When it comes to children, always expect the unexpected!