Nightmares: Helping Kids Conquer Them

November 20, 2008 at 11:25 AM by Cafe Kierna - Comments (3)

Through the eyes of a child, the world is filled with mysteries, miracles and, unfortunately, scary things and people. Even the most empowered child is aware of his own vulnerability. Because of this, the occasional nightmare is very common in children. Indeed, bogeymen and bad guys have real estate in their innocent minds.

kahala's son's nightmares are more than occasional, however. "Every night in the middle of the night my 5-year-old son wakes up terrified. How can I help him?" she asks. Her son wakes up twice a night in a panic and looking for her, and if she's say, in the shower, he goes crazy with fear. kahala made a point of saying she doesn't let him watch scary movies, and is with him all the time. It's a confounding situation.

I would suggest that kahala talk to her pediatrician and get her assessment of what to do next. But I also want to share the great suggestion nyteowl offered, if for no other reason than her sheer motherly creativity. Read on...

"[Here's] what I did to help with our son when he had a similar problem. I talked to him and learned that he was dreaming bad dreams of bad guys. SO I created a spray (vanilla and water) We sprayed that around his room every night. It was the anti bad guy serum. Then I gave him a flash light and we hung Christmas lights around his room (he really liked that) and told him bad guys won't pass into this room because it is well guarded with the lights and spray. It helped a great deal and made him feel tons better knowing he was safe from his dreams. Kids don't have to watch scary movies to have bad dreams. Their imaginations can run wild with every noise, shadow and bad dreams, Hope this helps!"

I bet this will, nyteowl!  Do you have any advice to offer for dealing with bad dreams?