The worry ladder

The sheet

For an everyday fear: the steps from easiest to hardest, written together, with a box to mark each try.

To fill in together · A4 · One page · PDF, 46 KB

Open the PDF →

It goes with When Reassurance Stops Working.

How it helps

Avoiding an everyday fear tends to make it bigger. Facing it a step at a time, starting with one your child can already manage, lets them find out that the worry usually comes down if they stay with it, and each try tends to make the next step easier.

How to use it

1. Use it for an everyday fear, such as dogs, the dark or asking for something in a shop.
2. Rituals your child can’t stop, panic attacks, or a fear that began after something frightening happened need your GP first. If your child is frightened of a particular person, or of a place where someone hurt or frightened them, don’t make a ladder: listen to your child, and see the foot of the sheet for what to do that day.
3. At the top, write what they’d like to be able to do. Then write the steps together, from easiest at the bottom to hardest at the top.
4. Start at the bottom. When a step feels easy, move up one, and if a step is too hard, go back one or add a step in between.
5. Mark each try in its box, and praise every try, whatever happened. Never spring a step on your child.

How to print it

Print it at home on A4, at actual size (100%) in the print settings. It reads as well in black and white as in colour.