When a Child Is Afraid of the Barber

What the fear is really about

Children are usually not afraid of the barber but of the situation: staying still, in an unfamiliar place, in the hands of someone they do not know. Clipper noise and cold metal on the neck add to it.

Uncertainty is the second cause. A child who does not know what will happen imagines the worst.

Why forcing does not work

A child cut by force is cut that day — and comes back with stronger resistance next time. Fear, once learned, is much harder to remove than to prevent.