The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-02-05
FEAR OF THE DARK.
Nervous Children Should Not Be
Ridiculed, but Treated Wisely.


II Is 70 natural to laugh at the
strange imaginings Of children. and to
ridiculc their fear Of the dark, but
mothers should realize that this Is
matter needing serious consideration.
There is a great difference in children.
of course; some are naturally nervous
and tinlid, while others show very lit
tie hesitancy about going to bed alone
in a dark room II they have had wise
training from babyhood. But with the
majority of children the great bug.
bear in their lives Is this fear of the
dark. Little folks as brave as lions
when the sun shines become arrant
towards when rooms grow shadowy
and strange forms loom uD In dusky
corners. AS the years go on this fear
keeps pace with their growth. and
even when maturity is reached they
still dread unlighted apartments with
an overpowering fear. tho secret of
which they cannot even tell to them"
selves.
This terror, that is actually a species
OF real misery. can often be traced
either directly or Indirectly to the
weird tales told by nurses to their
small charges or the threats of dan
gers that lurk in dark rooms II child
Is naughty or disobedient. The big
dark becomes an ogre ready to eat
them up, and twilight seems n steal
thy. foul fiend, suiking in their wake,
with all sorts of mysterious devices
with which to frighten and to punish
them.
Many grown persons cannot sleep In
q room unless a dim light Is burning.
They do not acknowledge that 1T is
fear Of the dark that makes the fain.
glimmer a necessary adjunct of peace
full repose. vet such is the case; and IL
they were to tell the occasion for such
| a fear it could be siftcd down to the
| root of the matter and the bugaboo
stories of childhood held responsible.
Strange as it may appear. it IL the
children themselves who actually revel
| in the tales of ghostlv visitations,
clanking chains, fiery eyes and similar
attractions that make them shudder
yet which have such a weird fascina-
tion for them that the person pos
sessed OF stock Of such legends Is
in most demand. Notwithstanding
this morbid taste. parents should look
to it that the mental appetite Of their
children is not randered to by stories
that. while they are fascinatingly hor-
rible at the time, leave impressions or
heart and mind that tend to weaker
the moral character, as well as causing
them many an hour of actual misery
in days to come.
When a child begins to exhibit ar
unaccountable fear of the dark try
soothing 1t to sleep with song in
darkened room, and the habit may bt
formed from early babyhOod of put
ting the child to he'd in the dark-
| everything is in readiness before tn,
baby Is taken to the room, and tn,
light then put out and the little on,
is taken into the room and tucked int
bed in the dark. and the mother %
nurse remains to sing the little on
to sleep without rocking. But If
child Is rocked to sleep each night il
lighted room until 1t grows out o
babyhOod, and is then expected I
form entirely new habits. it will b
actual cruelty to expect it to go boldi
into the dark room alone each nigh
and fall asleep in the midst of fearful
imaginings that the mere contras
from light to darkness is sure to form
even without the assistance of ghostl
tales. Early training and patient he'll
to overcome morbid nervousness vii
help the timid children to overcom
this childish fear which might other
wise develop into actual cOwardic
later in life.