Grade 1s have been struggling a bit with fears. Fears of the dark, fears of monsters, fears of clowns, fears of making mistakes, fears of nightmares. On Tuesday, as a class, we had everyone who lives with fears raise their hand. Each student was able to notice that everyone in the classroom (including all the adults!) raised their hands too. We are not alone in our fears – everyone has them.

Some fears are healthy- it’s healthy to be scared of fast traffic, fires, etc. It keeps us safe! But sometimes, our warning system tells us we’re unsafe when it’s not true.

Our minds can lie to us! So we need more information about our fears. Like a detective, we ask ourselves – what am I scared of? Is what I’m worried about real? If it is, what’s the likelihood that it will happen to me? How big is my fear? Where is my fear in my body?

To help quiet down the fears, we practised breathing beautiful coloured light into that part of the body and breathing out the fear. I breathe in my courage and exhale my fear.

We also practiced checking with 5 people we trusted whether our thoughts were true. A student asked 5 friends: “Is Voldemort real?” and was surprised when all 5 said: “no, it’s part of a story”. We discussed the need to check with more than one person because, sometimes, one person might be wrong, but it’s less likely that 5 people we trust will all be wrong.
We also talked about practical strategies for avoiding getting scared by movies, videos, and games. We practised closing our eyes and putting our hands over our ears. We discussed how we could walk away or say that we don’t like scary things and would rather not watch it.
Though our fears are still around, our courage is too!