Helping Children Cope with Fears: Using Children's Literature in Classroom Guidance.

Abstract

Many children are dealing with adult fears such as death, crime, and war at early ages. School counselors can help children cope with these fears using stories from children's literature. The role that children's literature can play in teaching these coping skills is discussed along with strategies for choosing books. Several books and recommended counseling activities are described for use in the primary grades. ********** Recent events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent war on terrorism have heightened our fears and sense of vulnerability to future attacks. Although typically considered adult concerns, the constant media coverage in the immediate aftermath of these events and the continuing emphasis on terrorism have heightened our children's fears about death. As a result, parents, teachers, and school counselors are faced with the task of identifying and implementing strategies that will enable children to cope with these fears. The purpose of this article is to discuss the role that children's literature can play in teaching these coping skills. Specifically, strategies for choosing books and for activities to accompany selected books will be presented. NATURE OF CHILDREN'S FEARS It is well established that fears are a natural part of children's development and occur in a fairly predictable pattern. Normative data on children's fears suggest that the focus of their fears shifts as children grow older (e.g., Akande et al., 1999; Crosser, 1995; Smith, Davidson, White, & Poppen, 1990). Robinson and Rotter (1991) suggested that in infancy and early childhood fears initially reflect a fear of strangers and separation from parents and later focus on dark rooms, sudden changes in appearances, large animals, and mystical creatures. Although children continue to be afraid of large animals, in the early school years, these fears are gradually replaced by fears of dangerous people such as robbers, muggers, and kidnappers, and a subsequent fear of being alone (Eme & Schmidt, 1978; Robinson & Rotter). While earlier studies indicate that real-life fears (i.e., fears of real world violence such as drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, and nuclear war) do not begin to emerge until early adolescence, more recent evidence now suggests that these fears are occurring at earlier ages, in the elementary school years (Owen, 1998). In a study of Hispanic and Anglo children ages 7 to 9, Owen found that danger, physical injury, and death were the children's most frequently cited fears. Owen reported that regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, or ethnicity, fears of death and personal danger were preeminent at this age. Given these findings, Owen concluded that With their high fear ratings of social violence ... 7-, 8-, and 9-year-old children resemble older children from past research. Fears of drive-by shootings, nuclear weapons, and street drugs have supplanted fears of bad dreams, animals, and monsters in this 1990s cohort. Widespread media coverage of violent events and constant social and cultural changes appear to have a profound effect on what children fear (Hostetler, 1991; Robinson, Robinson, & Whetsell, 1988; Tarifa & Kloep, 1996). In a review of recent studies, Tarifa and Kloep concluded that children respond strongly to world events. For example, such events as the nuclear arms race (Duncan, Kraus, & Parks, 1986; Kanet, 1983) and the war in the Persian Gulf (Hostetler; Knoll, 1991) led to an increase in children's fears as well as their anxieties about the inability to make the world a safer place. Looking at children's fears in different countries, it was found not only that children across societies have a common fear of war but also that fears are shaped by local events (Tarifa & Kloep). As the United States will likely continue to deal with the uncertainty of the war on terrorism, school counselors can anticipate that our children's fears are likely to be heightened during this national crisis. …

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