Discover how Halloween costumes and spooky stories can help kids confront their fears, building confidence and emotional resilience along the way.

How Halloween Helps Kids Face Their Fears

Discover how Halloween costumes and spooky stories can help kids confront their fears, building confidence and emotional resilience along the way.

Halloween scary and not so scary Book recommendations for children by Atelier Spatz

If like me, you didn’t grow up with a Halloween tradition this “season” may appear a little weird to you, especially as a parent. Really, why would scaring kids or kids being scary on purpose while eating piles of candy along the way not be the silliest thing to do?

And that is exactly what I thought as a young parent many years ago, too. But Halloween can be a valuable opportunity for children to learn to manage emotions like fear and anger in a safe, playful environment. Having lived in the UK for many years and through many American friends and family, my kids grew up with this tradition and together we grew to love it.

Wearing costumes and reading scary stories can help kids confront strong feelings
in a healthy way, building emotional resilience and understanding.

When children dress up as a monster or superhero, they explore new identities and perspectives. This allows them to engage with fears in a controlled way, transforming scary ideas into fun, manageable experiences. For instance, dressing as ghostly character can help a child face common fears like darkness or imaginary creatures, allowing them to see that these fears are not as overwhelming as they seem. Having a conversation about “the afterlife” or what might or might not lurk in the dark this way is an opportunity we don’t have with any other seasonal tradition.

We also always love reading scary stories at this time of the year. There is a great article on The Booktrust webpage about the benefits of ready scary stories. Cavan Scott calls it “Fear with a safety belt”, which I love as an expression.

“We live in a scary world, especially for kids. There’s so much they don’t understand, full of emotions that confound most adults. They experience fear and anger. They can be frustrated, or nervous, or jealous. They are let down and have to cope with rejection and disappointment.”

Cavan Scott for The Booktrust

Scary stories introduce children to suspense and fear in a setting where they know they’re safe. When they experience fear through a story, they learn to recognize it, process it, and eventually calm themselves down. This practice not only builds courage but also gives them a chance to talk about what scares them, which is the first step to conquering those fears.

If you fancy crawling under a blanket with your kids during one of the Halloween nights and read a (not so) scary story to them here is a great list of stories to tell and read to younger kids published by Tiny Beans.

The Haunting Season, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Voyage Extraordinaire by Jules Vernes, Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, The Time Machine by HG Wells, Sleepy Hollow by Irving Washington - recommended by Atelier Spatz

And if your kids are a little older or you fancy a scary story yourself, I found a good selection on the LitHub here.

https://lithub.com/20-spooky-short-stories-you-can-read-for-free-online/

Halloween can also help children understand and express anger in creative ways. Playing the role of a fierce character, like a pirate or warrior, can allow them to explore strong emotions through pretend play. It provides a socially acceptable outlet for acting out aggressive feelings, making it easier to understand these emotions and learn how to manage them in real life.

The important thing is that we talk to them about it afterwards and reflect on what they felt and experienced. Ultimately, Halloween isn’t just about candy and costumes—it’s a playful yet powerful way to teach kids about their emotions and prepare them for some of the scary challenges they might face later in life. By facing fear in a fun setting, they can develop strategies for handling real-life challenges and learn that feeling scared or angry doesn’t have to be so scary after all.

So, I’m all for embracing Halloween as an opportunity to wrap some parenting into fun: cooking black pasta, serving some eyeballs (lollipop cakes), reading a scary story or a going on a night walk through the woods as well as dressing up as your favourite historical character resurrected from the dead or poisonous mushroom and hiding behind doors frightening each other.

Less candy please though!

Happy Halloween Sweeping Witch Costume by Atelier Spatz


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