On this week’s Parenting segment, one mother asked for advice after her daughter got a scare from Halloween decorations.

“I brought my four-year-old into a shop last week, and there were numerous spooky Halloween decorations out on display,” she told Moncrieff.

“She got terrified by a few of them and has had a few nights of disturbed sleep, and keeps coming in telling us she’s getting nightmares.

“She has also become extra clingy.

“I’ve repeated to her that it’s all just pretend, but this doesn’t seem to be registering.

“I’m also nervous about how she’ll react around Halloween, what would you suggest?”

A little girl cries as she sits on a pumpkin for a fall portrait, Oct. 21, 2011, in Columbus, Mississippi. Image: Carmen K. Sisson/Cloudybright

Family psychotherapist Joanna Fortune said that the good news is Christmas has already overtaken the run-in to Halloween in many shops.

“Four-year-olds are still very much in that beautiful, imaginative stage of development and play,” she said.

“So, that’s great, but the blur between what’s real and not real is very, very fragile.

“They don’t look at costumes or masks and say, ‘Well, that’s not real, or [that’s] people wearing them’.

“They think, ‘Oh my gosh, there really is some kind of a monster at my door’, so you really have to work on that with her.”

Lean into the silly side

Joanna said that there are two sides of Halloween, the scary and the silly.

According to Joanna, given this little girl’s initial reaction, it would be best to lean into the silly side.

“One of the things [to do] - because she’s going to see costumes and whatnot around – is to play at home, be that with wigs, be it with hats, be it with wigs – whatever works for you,” she said.

“Playing with it, showing, ‘This is me, this is pretend, and this is me again’.

"So, she sees you put something on, take it off, and she knows the real person is still there behind all of that.

“You can do that over and over again because repetition is how she’s going to learn.”

Boy in lion costume trick or treating on Halloween. Image: Tetra Images, LLC. 26 October 2014

Joanna recommended that alongside this type of play, the girl’s parents should also acknowledge her fear.

“This little girl knows exactly what to do with her fear,” she said.

“She’s coming into her parents, she’s clingy, she’s leaning into you; there’s no subtlety about this.

“So, acknowledge her fear, but don’t minimise or dismiss it.

“[Don’t say], ‘There’s nothing to be scared of, it’s not real, don’t worry about it’.

“That’s not how it is for her.”

Main image: Girl screaming and crying after scary dream. Image: samuel wordley. 27 October 2018