The worried child — and why helping can quietly make it bigger

The short version

If you've got a child who worries — who won't go to the party, needs the hall light on, asks the same anxious question ten times, or can't be in a room without you — here's the short version before anything else:

• Worry is a normal part of growing up. Most of it comes and goes on its own. Some of it digs in and needs more — and there's a clear line, further down, for telling the difference.
• The thing almost nobody tells you: stepping in to take the scary thing away — letting them skip it, answering the worried question one more time, lying down with them till they're asleep — calms tonight, and quietly teaches the worry it was right. The relief is real, and it feeds the fear.
• You don't fix this by leaving them to it. You do it by staying beside them while they face a small piece — close, warm, and backing them to handle it.

That's the whole module. The rest is the why, and the how — and the line for when it's bigger than this.