Fear of animals is common among children. It may be linked to a traumatic event or may reflect a generalized anxiety disorder. How to help a child who is afraid of animals? Advice from Vincent Joly, psychologist for children and adolescents.

A child may be afraid of a particular animal or of several animals for two main reasons:

• He had a traumatic experience with an animal and this triggered a fear in him which prevents him from being confronted with this animal again. A child who has been bitten or scratched by a cat or a dog can, no matter how serious the incident, experience it very badly and then develop a rational fear of this beast. “If it is a dog, the child will then be afraid of all the dogs he crosses and will try at all costs to avoid them”, explains the psychologist. ;
• The child suffers from anxiety and projects his anxieties onto an animal which for him represents danger. “A child’s anxiety often stems from parental anxiety. If one of the two parents is afraid of an animal, the child feels it and can himself develop the same phobia even if the parent tries to hide it ”, indicates Vincent Joly.

In the first case, the phobia of the animal in question is all the stronger the more the animal was idealized by the child before the traumatic event. For example, the child approached a cat confidently, thinking that it was not dangerous because he had already seen very nice cats elsewhere, whether in reality or in books or cartoons. And the fact of having been scratched created an immediate blockage. “Mistrust of an animal can unfortunately extend to other animals because the child therefore assimilates the danger to all animals”, notes the specialist.

When faced with a child who is afraid of an animal, certain behaviors should be avoided, reminds the psychologist:

• force the child to stroke the animal if he does not want to or to approach it (by pulling it by the arm for example);
• belittle the child by telling him “you are no longer a baby, there is no reason to be afraid”. The phobia being an irrational fear, there is no point in trying to find explanations to convince the child. “This kind of behavior will not solve the problem and the child may even lose self-confidence because the parent devalues ​​him,” warns Vincent Joly.

To help your toddler get rid of his phobia, it is better to take it step by step. When he sees the animal, do not try to approach it, stay by its side and observe the dog together, from a distance, for a few minutes. The child will realize for himself that the beast does not display dangerous behavior. Second step, go and meet the animal yourself, without the child, so that he can see from a distance how the dog behaves with you.

For the psychologist, helping the child to get rid of his phobia of animals is also explaining to him how we are supposed to behave with an animal to prevent it from becoming dangerous and to teach him to recognize the signs that an animal is pissed off.

“For an adult, these are commonplace and acquired things but for a child it is quite new: not to disturb an animal when it eats, not to molest it by pulling its ears or tail, to stroke it gently and in the direction of the hair, moving away from a growling dog or a spitting cat, etc. ”, explains the psychologist.

Phobias are common in children, between 3 and 7 years old. Fortunately, as the child grows, his fears dissipate as he understands the dangers better and has learned to tame them. With regard to the fear of animals, especially domestic animals such as cats, dogs, rabbits; it usually goes away over time. However, this fear is considered to be pathological when it lasts over time and has major consequences in the daily life of the child. “At first, the child avoids stroking the animal, then he avoids the animal when he sees it, then he avoids the places where he could cross the animal or he accepts to be confronted with the animal only in the presence of a trusted person such as his mother or father. All these strategies that the child puts in place will become disabling in his everyday life. A consultation with a psychologist can then be useful ”, advises Vincent Joly.

When the fear of animals is linked to anxiety and the child suffers from other fears and anxieties, the solution is not to focus on the phobia of animals but to seek to find the origin of his generalized anxiety.