my 3 year old daughter is terrified of fireworks-how can i help her ?

Question

as it's approaching 5th November,loads of fireworks are already being let off in the evenings and my poor lamb is absolutely terrified of the bangs!!!nothing we do is helping her overcome her fears and we obviously can't stop people from setting them off so we find ourselves at a complete loss as to what to do next!any (helpful) suggestions would be wonderful 'cos we really don't know what to do now.it's only going to get worse as bonfire night gets closer and i think i may have a breakdown as well as her..................

thanks guys,i can't believe we hadn't thought of ear plugs!!!!how dull are we?(don't answer that!!).we've bought some today and will try them out tonight.keep fingers crossed!!!cheers all xx

p.s will send your answers to voting as i can't choose!they've all helped tho xx

Answer 1

I'm terrified of fireworks, and I'm legally an adult. You can't really "help" someone get over one of their fears. Phobias need to go away on their own, as the more opposition you face with one, the stronger they become.

Answer 2

Try having her wear some ear protection so the bangs aren't so loud. Also get her some fireworks of her own, snap bangs and anything that doesn't have too loud of a bang. Gradually work her up to the bigger ones. Hopefully she will enjoy setting them off and forget about her fears. My son had the same problem until I gave him some of his own fireworks, once he got into it he didn't care about the noise.

Answer 3

Find out what is scaring her, it's probably the noise. When I was little I hated fireworks, so does my 7 year old cousin. I learned over the years that I have very sensitive ears (even a balloon popping hurts my ears) so maybe you should try either having her sit on your lap and hold your hands over her ears or buy her some earplugs. Maybe this would help her. Good luck.

Answer 4

This may sound really weird, but I saw a programme last week about how to help dogs, and some of it would make sense for a child too. Such as, show her videos of fireworks - first with the sound low, then gradually turn up the sound till its quite loud.

Also, try teaching her to make some really loud bangs of her own - with saucepan lids and things. This might also help desensitize her.

Answer 5

That's rough. Have you tried offering her ear plugs? You could try to make a game out of it and the ear plugs are her secret weapon. Or, you could try make it a positive thing, maybe every time a firework goes off she gets a quarter or something else that would motivate her, candy, etc...
Also try talking to her about it while it isn't going on
i.e. what bothers you about the fire works?
what does it remind you of?
Try to get her to explain what makes it so scary.
If you haven't already I would bring it up to her pediatrician, he/she may have some suggestions.

Answer 6

i babysit a child that was terrified of fireworks as wel as your daughter. i takes time to calm her fear but it is posible. when she was 3 she always wore ear plugs during fireworks so she couldnt hear them, only see them. soon i got her to take them out out watch the fireworks from the inside of a house. she would cover her ears but it was fine. soon she was so use to them she could watch them from inside ad not cover her ears or anything. it finaly progresed and she could go outside and watch the fireworks siting in my lap.


but every year try something new with your daughter. this year, put ear plugs in her ear then stand and look at the fireworks with her from inside. soon she will relize that they arnt scary. it takes time but ear plugs should do the trick for now