My six-year old daughter is a nightmare queen.
Not in the fake scream-bad acting-wannabe horror flick kind of way, in the creepy crawly-spiders crawling up my legs-gotta climb in bed with mommy and daddy kind of way. She has nightmares (according to her) most nights, and ends up in my bed at least three times a week.
I tried the "Imagination Transformation" speech. Basically, you control you own dreams. Whenever something starts to scare you, use your imagination to turn it in to something wonderful. That worked for a day. Maybe two. So, she decided it was time to make a dreamcatcher. She saw one at Grandma's house and asked what they were for. I told her they catch bad dreams in the web which are then destroyed by the light of day.
So, with stuff we had around the house -- markers, yarn, paper plate, beads -- she made a dreamcatcher. I, being of adult logical mind, doubted that it would work. She, being of childish wonder and fantasy believing mind, was sure it would. We hung her creation above her bed straight away. The next morning, she ran out of her room happy to announce that "It worked Mommy! It really works! I started having a bad dream and it just went away!"
Not in the fake scream-bad acting-wannabe horror flick kind of way, in the creepy crawly-spiders crawling up my legs-gotta climb in bed with mommy and daddy kind of way. She has nightmares (according to her) most nights, and ends up in my bed at least three times a week.
I tried the "Imagination Transformation" speech. Basically, you control you own dreams. Whenever something starts to scare you, use your imagination to turn it in to something wonderful. That worked for a day. Maybe two. So, she decided it was time to make a dreamcatcher. She saw one at Grandma's house and asked what they were for. I told her they catch bad dreams in the web which are then destroyed by the light of day.
So, with stuff we had around the house -- markers, yarn, paper plate, beads -- she made a dreamcatcher. I, being of adult logical mind, doubted that it would work. She, being of childish wonder and fantasy believing mind, was sure it would. We hung her creation above her bed straight away. The next morning, she ran out of her room happy to announce that "It worked Mommy! It really works! I started having a bad dream and it just went away!"
I guess I just have to remember that kids still live in that long-forgotten land of wonder and fantasy, where magic is an everyday reality.
