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NLP technique for parents: fear

December 22, 2022

Here is an NLP technique for parents to use on a small child who has a fear! I am not talking an Indiana Jones type fear or even phobia. This is more for when your child has a mild fear of perhaps a bird, or something hiding underneath their bed, or men with beards, lets say. There is no need for you, as parents, to have done any NLP training to apply this technique. The good news is that it is effective 70% of the time, as long as it is used for a mild fear.

NLP Technique for parents helping kids overcome a mild fear

Step 1: association

Let the child imagine the person, object, or animal, etc. Do this as if looking through their own eyes, which in NLP terms is referred to as “associated.” This means the child is NOT inside the image. The association helps to feel the mild fear. Parents be aware: this is not for extremely large fears!

Step 2: visualize

Turn it into either a photograph or a movie.

Step 3: make it bigger

Ask the child to make the image bigger and bigger and bigger. As big as the room, as the house, as the street, etc. Parents be aware that initially the child becomes a little more afraid.

Result: eventually the fear with blow-out. As initially the child gets more afraid, eventually the image becomes too large for life. It can’t be experienced by the brain anymore as a reality. From an emotional point of view, it either neutralizes or becomes funny.

Below is a video explaining the NLP technique for parents.

In the event this NLP technique for fear doesn’t work?

What if your child just gets more afraid? This is not just a reversal, but also can be used as a stand-alone technique for a mild fear.

NLP technique 2 for parents:

1. Ask the child to imagine that they are inside the image. This will help them dissociate from the emotion.

2. Ask the child to shrink the image back down, so it becomes a postage stamp.

3. Turn it into black and white.

4. Make it darker and darker

5. Push it far into the distance, so it can’t even be seen anymore.

Larger fears?

For larger fears, or more techniques like this, I recommend parents taking NLP training. Parents from around the world (with children who have a fear, and those who don’t) have already attended the course. I believe this small NLP technique can easily be used by parents, whether they are NLP trained or not.