Good Parenting

“My child is scared of flying,” says Pam DeVries. Her daughters, Samantha, 7, and Tristan, 5, don’t want to go on a plane for their aunt’s upcoming wedding.

While most kids are excited by plane trips and seldom waste a moment worrying that they’re five miles above safe solid ground, but other parents like Pam find that “my child is scared of flying.”

Given that one out of six Americans has a fear of flying on planes, some of these people are bound to be children– maybe yours.

Some adults find that the fear of flying becomes so acute that they enroll in courses to overcome their phobia. While there are no formal programs for children who are scared of planes, you can help your child overcome their fear of flying.

Don’t dismiss a child’s frights with glib reassurances. If you talk to your child about any worries about a plane trip, the release of expressing their anxieties may be sufficient to help them get on the plane.

You should give your child a chance to speak about any anxieties they might have. Some psychologists suspect that a child’s fear of flying can represent an underlying anxiety about other things in their life like a divorce or other family difficulty.

It’s hard to probe into painful areas. Know that children are sometimes ready to share their problems if they are given the opportunity. You should at least give the child the chance to speak about any problems bothering him.

Don’t argue statistics with the child. Even if only one person in 10 million dies in a plane, the child can rationalize that the child might be him or her. Also, if you compare flying statistics to car fatalities, you may end up scaring your child about car travel.

Also, don’t influence your child with your own fears of flying. They may pick up on the anxiety and internalize it.

One thing you can do is explain how planes work. Spend some time familiarizing the child with the things he or she will experience in flight.