Anxiety

My 8 year old daughter has an unnecessary fear of fire. For example whenever I cook she goes to check the flames and wants me to lower them if they are higher than she likes them. What worries me is that I can see fright in her eyes when she sees a high flame (even though it is a perfectly normal size just she feels that it is high.)

This fear started soon after there was a fire near our home two years ago. At that point she was also afraid of going with an elevator (we live in an elevator building) but we helped her get out of that one and she goes with the elevator now with no problems.

I am concerned about the fact that as soon as she was helped with one fear she shifted to a different one.

Even though her fears worry me a lot I realize that they do not take over her life.

Do you feel that she needs professional help?


Hi. I don't think it is ever a bad idea to seek professional help. However, usually I would say you can make the decision about professional help based on how much it interferes in her life. If her fear of fire is not interfering in her ability to function at home, with friends or at school then it is not that intrusive of a fear. It makes sense to me that if the fire was a traumatic experience for her, she would develop a fear of it. Many children have fears based on these kinds of experiences.

Good luck with your child and thanks for your question