Another example of a game to play is having children run into a dark room and stay in there for progressively longer periods of time. They can start out at a few seconds and work their way up. Parents should remember to take things slowly when playing such games with their children. They should wait until their children feel completely comfortable with one level of exposure, for example, running into a dark room and staying there for ten seconds, before moving on to another level. Parents can connect a dimmer switch to their child's bedroom light.
Parents can then adjust the light to a level their child feels comfortable with.
Every few days parents can turn the light down lower and lower until their child feels comfortable in complete darkness. Or, parents can give their child a flashlight and show him how to operate it, so that he has a source of light if he wakes up in the middle of the night and is afraid. Teach positive self-talk. Positive self-talk is saying positive things about one's self to one's self. Positive self-talk is a very powerful tool for children to have.