My Child Is Afraid House Will Burn Down

Just calm his fears. If you haven't, install a smoke alarm in his room. Now might be a good time to start an action plan with him, and what to do if a fire does break out.
I was about his age when I watched a very scary video on forest fires and Smoky the Bear. The video had little cartoon animals fleeing in terror from a forest fire. I think I'm still damaged from it. lol

I would practice family fire drills with him, have him help you test/change the batteries on the smoke detectors, and make sure he knows how to call 911. Depending on his age you could also show him how a fire extinguisher works and where they are kept. The best way to help a child overcome fear is to empower them.

ETA: Does your local fire department have a "Smoke House"? Ours has a trailer that simulates the smoke in a fire. The kids go in, it fills with fake smoke, and the kids practice crawling to the window and climbing out. My kids always loved it.

I have been there, but my kid's fear from from an actual fire. Two and a half years ago, a vehicle in our detached garage started on fire and burned the entire garage down and took two vehicles (one of them brand new!) and many many many personal belongings.

My kids were woken up and witnessed it when we had to evacuate the house for fear that the fire was too intense and was going to take our home too. Sadly, they watched the whole thing go from our driveway.

My son was pretty young and just thought the firetrucks were really cool. My daughter, however, was old enough to understand what was happening and suffered from nightmares for months. She still has bad dreams about it from time to time.

You cannot always control what your kids are exposed to but you can control how you react to it. We helped our daughter (and ourselves!) by holding regular fire drills. We taught our kids that nothing is more important than their lives and if they hear the fire alarm, they just get out of the house. The do not worry about anyone or anything but themselves. We have a pre-planned meeting spot at a neighbor's house. Both kids have learned about staying low, checking doors for heat and have been taught to break their windows and jump if there is no other option.

My best advice is to teach your child to be prepared, not scared. Whenever my daughter has some fear about fire, we remind her of all the things we have done to be prepared if it should happen. We also remind her that it has happened once and is very unlikely to happen again. She understands that its just a house and stuff - all of it can be replaced. We only worry about the people inside.

Our fire taught us how quickly everything you have worked for can be taken away and that it CAN happen to you. It taught us that we needed to be much more intentional about action plans - not just for fire but for severe weather, winter weather, terrorist attacks, water contamination, etc. We are building those action plans now and are working at being much more prepared for anything.

My general response to any fear is empowerment. Generally we fear things we feel we have no control over. Make your child family fire marshall - have him draw out an escape route and pick the meeting spot outside. Have him make sure all the fire alarms are working, help him place the extinguishers, let him plan and conduct drills, etc. I would also talk with him about what happens after a fire - how insurance works to replace the things we lose, where we stay, how we have people who help take care of us (firefighters, rescue people, red cross, relatives, etc.) Empowerment is a great way to face fears.

My daughter has been worried about tornadoes ever since she had to hide in a bathroom at daycare because of a tornado. The way we helped her was to have a tornado plan. We've shown her where to go in our house if there was a tornado. We've practiced what to do in case of tornado. She still talks about it, but not scared, more like, this is what I'll do.

Hi sweetie! I had the same fear when I was about that age! Must be pretty common. I remember I thought the fire would just spontaneously start in the corner of the door or something, kids' imaginations!! My sweet loving comforting mom assured me it wouldn't happen, the way all these other moms advised you to do. I don't have specific advice, buying do know it's Normal & a good time to teach all sorts of lessons & preparedness! Good luck honey!

It was recently fire safety awareness week. So, it is to be expected that some students take home fear vs. comfort. I suggest you go over the fire safety plan you and your family create from this week - you also practice and show what tools you and your family have put into place already.

Show him the fire alarms in your house. Explain that the alarm would alert you in the unlikely event of a fire so that the fire fighters could put the fire out before the house could burn down.

My son definetly has come to me about being afraid the house would burn down. He is 8 years old.
So, I told him not to worry! We have a whole bunch of sprinklers throughout the whole apartments, in every room! I took him on a tour and showed him each one. We went outside to where the fire extinguisher is and where the fire alarm is. We talked about staying in his room when the fire alarm goes off because I or his dad will get him and bring him to safety. We talked about the sprinklers destroying everything in the apartment but NOT TO WORRY because we have renters insurance that will help us to replace everything. I think he just needed to know that there was a plan for IF there is a fire. Once he knew I had everyhting under control he was feeling ok about it.
Try that.
L.

I like Marda's suggestion.

You can also do a 'safety check' at night with him. It's never a bad thing to know your family's fire escape plans and what to do if there is a fire. So, reassure, make plans, and let him see for himself that the house is safe and all is well.

How old is your child? Really young kids, like 6 and under, do think that the world pretty much revolves around them. Developmentally, they think that anything said is directed at THEM, they don't yet understand the idea of addressing a group. So when they visit the fire house and hear about fire safety, what they hear is "Your house is probably going to burn down." They don't understand that this happens to such a tiny percent of people. You need to speak to him with real facts about how infrequently house fires occur - does he know anyone whose house burned down? No? Then you can see that it doesn't happen to many people. Part of visiting a fire house is to learn about fire safety. Go over the safety plan for your family with your son. Let him know that this isn't in place because you are likely to experience a fire, and that most people who have a fire plan in place NEVER use it, but that you have these safety measures in place so that if a fire should occur, you can all get to safety.

I would call the station that he visited and ask their advice. Perhaps taking him for another visit during which a fireman talks about his fear would help.

Take your child through the house and go over all safety procedures. Check the smokes detectors, get a fire extinguisher and keep it in the kitchen. Practice how to get out of the house if there is a fire. It is important that your children know what to do in an emergency and to not just be afraid of it.

This is why they take field trips to the fire house so kids can learn what to do and over come their fears. My daughter gets scared of the house burning too but we go over our safety procedures and it seems to help her feel better.

I'm no help. My ultimate fear is fire, not in my home but hotels or other homes.

Last week I was at my boyfriend's house watching Sons of Anarchy and there was a fire downstairs...freaked me out! It pretty much solidified my fear of fire.

oh lordy my kids went thru this also-explain the smoke detector clearly n that should ease his fears