Nightmares!!

[andiesmama]

Ok, my daughter turned 2 in June, all of a sudden tonight she's not wanting to go to sleep, scared of monsters!! I know what it was, she saw a kids video where the little girl was scared there was one in her closet, turns out it was just a shadow of her dresses from the light. Totally harmless (so we thought!), but then again she has been watching it for a week now & this was the first time it's bothered her!!

She normally sleeps with a night-light and goes to sleep with a lullaby CD, so here's what I did...of course, did the talk of them only being pretend, her house is safe & mommy & daddy will keep her safe, to think happy thoughts of Jesus, rainbows, blah blah blah...then I gave her my pillow to sleep with and told her to listen to her happy music and then she wouldn't think of the monsters...which I then reassured her they were only pretend anyways!!

But how do/did you parents handle it? I've heard the spray the room with water thing, but I'm not sure I want to make it such a big ordeal with her. I'm thinking the kind of "no big deal" thing is the way to go. I read somewhere that the mom told her child that it was the monster's bedtime as well, so the "monster mommy" didn't want them out...but that seemed to make it more real! We do the prayers at night of course & I sing a "prayer song" (made up a song to the "now I lay me down to sleep" prayer)...any advice would be appreciated!!...she's our first & I'm new to all this!!

 

[alaskamolly]

All mine go through a stage like that, and it's usually around the same age. It's a normal developmental stage--all of a sudden, they are realizing that bad things CAN happen...to them!


Not saying that the enemy can't exploit this stage and bring more fear there than should be, but in general, it's a perfectly normal and natural stage of childhood.


We just make it no big deal, as you were saying in your post. We do our best to alleviate fears (ie, nightlight, soft Bible lullaby music, prayers, leaving the bedroom door open, etc...) but otherwise try to just make light of it.

If they wake up at night screaming from a bad dream, we let them come snuggle with us in bed (if they need to).

There's not too much sense in 'reasoning' with them too far...their brains aren't really at a 100% Reasoning level, and so they can't understand that. I think that's where the 'spraying the room' thing and the 'monster's mommy said it's their bedtime too' thing came about. Find something that works for you like that, that doesn't use higher level reasoning skills but just plain ol-fashioned problem solving techniques!

...And what works for some children, won't for others (isn't that always the case, anyways?), so just be creative and do whatever it is that seems to work best.


Blessings,
Molly

 

[Lena75]

My daughter (4) is just now becoming "afraid" of the dark. She has a nightlight in her room and wants our bedroom light on. I did that once. Well, now she wants it on every night! So last night, I just let her be. I didn't turn on our light because I pointed out she has a light. I sat in her room until she fell asleep and I just didn't make a big deal over the extra light. Spraying water over a room to get rid of the monsters? That's the first I ever heard. I agree, that that would only make it become more real and possible that there are monsters in her room! I wouldn't go that far. I think you're doing the right thing, reinforcing prayer time, soft music....all that you're doing is great!

 

[karla]

My daughter went through the same thing. I used to pretend to call the monster's mommy and tell her that it is my daughter's bedtime and that her little monsters had to come home. It worked! The thing is, I don't know where she got the whole monster thing from since the only monster she had seen was cookie monster.

You could also give her a flashlight to sleep with and if she thinks she sees a monster she could turn the light on them.