I did something counterintuitive to help my 6 year old with his fear

We live an apartment building with an elevator. We regularly use it because we often have one kid in a stroller or carrier plus the 6 year old plus all that needs to go with us. The elevator is a little old and therefor not perfect but not dangerous. However, our 6 year developed a fear of the elevator. We tried teaching him about the sensor that keeps the door open, talking about the safety of the elevator versus other things, watching youtube videos about elevators, on and on. Nothing worked. Every time we rode in the elevator he would latch on to us, close his eyes etc.Yesterday for no real reason I asked if he wanted to go up to our apartment by himself in the elevator. I assumed the answer would be no because of his fear. However, he said yes. And so he did. And this morning he asked to ride down alone. He said it made him not as nervous to ride alone.To me this is totally counterintuitive but somehow it worked. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2AaEX7A