Are Ghosts and Ghouls Good For Children

Some young children seem to gravitate towards the scary, while others stumble into it accidentally — through storybooks, fairy tales, or Halloween fun in the neighbourhood. For parents, it can be hard to know how to respond. Should you embrace your child’s macabre interests when they reach for a Lanka Kade Frankenstein figure at my shop, or protect and steer them from anything spooky to avoid a week of night terrors?

What's scary anyway?

The first thing to remember is that children — especially toddlers — don’t experience “scary” in the same way adults do and don't share our sense of what’s frightening. Their fears are often unpredictable and wonderfully illogical. A child might scream in terror as the bathwater gurgles down the plughole but burst into giggles at someone in a monster mask. Their brains are still figuring out what’s real, what’s pretend, and where fear fits in.

Scary Doesn’t Mean Strange

If your child loves spooky stories or dark characters, it doesn’t mean there’s anything odd or worrying about them. In fact, it’s often a healthy sign. Children use scary play, toy figures and spooky books to test drive emotions — fear, excitement, bravery — in a way that’s safe and completely under their control. Often, children are drawn to scary play because it helps them make sense of big emotions and the unpredictable world around them.

A Safe Space for Big Feelings

Scary stories and play are a brilliant training ground for handling big feelings. They let children dip a toe into fear, then come safely back out again. Some kids are what psychologists call “sensation-seekers” — they just love a good thrill! For others, spooky play is a way to feel more grown-up or to make sense of something confusing.

And sometimes, it’s simply about taking charge. Acting out something that feels scary helps children shrink it down to a size they can manage and make sense of.

The Benefits of Scary Play

Processing Emotions - Through play, children can engage with and understand fear in a controlled, creative way. They learn that scary feelings come and go — and that they can handle them.

Building Resilience - Each time they “face their fears” through play, they build emotional resilience and confidence.

Making Sense of the World - Scary play often mirrors real-life worries: a trip to the doctor, the sound of thunder, or a scene from a film. Play helps them reframe these experiences and regain a sense of safety.

Learning Boundaries - Exploring scary themes also teaches children about limits — what’s real and what’s pretend, what’s safe and what’s not, what makes them uncomfortable and when to stop.

A little bit of scary can be a very good thing

Scary helps children process emotions, build resilience, and discover their own courage — one monster at a time.

Children need to grapple with all the emotions that fear invites: anxiety, confusion, surprise, even anger. Every time they do, they gain tools for understanding and managing those feelings in the real world. As parents, our role isn’t to remove fear, but to guide them through it.

So next time your little one reaches for the Frankenstein figure, maybe let them. They might just be learning how brave they already are.