With the recent creepy clown threats and sightings nationwide, how should parents reassure their children (and themselves) that they’ll be safe trick-or-treating on Halloween? Some people are actually choosing creepy clown masks or suits as their costume of choice for the holiday because of all the social media attention.

Younger kids are most likely unaware of the phenomenon, and so if they don’t bring it up at all, don’t introduce anxiety to their celebration, advises Darby Fox, a New York City-based child and adolescent family therapist.

For middle-schoolers or older kids who are nervous or scared, that’s the time you need to be straightforward as well as balanced and realistic, Fox says. Ask them what they specifically are worried about and address that, Fox says. Reassure them that although this has happened in a few places nationwide, the reality is that the chance of them running into a clown who is going to hurt them is really slim, she says. “Tell them, ‘This is really random. This is very rare. Yes, there have been a few that have threatened people, but nothing has really happened. Let’s not give that a lot of attention,’” Fox says.

Remind them to stay in a group with friends if trick-or-treating, to be alert and to contact an adult immediately if anything makes them uncomfortable, Fox says. It is important to talk to them about how to react in any situation in which they don’t feel safe so they have those tools, she says.