5 year old waking up with bad dreams nightly

My five year old has recently started waking and coming to my room in
the middle of the night saying he had a "bad dream". I'm not sure if
it is just an excuse or if he is really scared. I usually comfort him
and send him back to his room as not to encourage the behavior. Any
suggestions on helping older children sleep through the night?

On 18 Nov 2003 11:14:20 -0800, (Leigh Ann) wrote:

My five year old has recently started waking and coming to my room in
the middle of the night saying he had a "bad dream". I'm not sure if
it is just an excuse or if he is really scared. I usually comfort him
and send him back to his room as not to encourage the behavior. Any
suggestions on helping older children sleep through the night?

Assume that he is telling the truth and it's a bad dream.

Make sure that he isn't being overstimulated or watching TV or
reading stories that cause the dreams. Then cuddle him and
comfort him and send him back to bed. But do talk about the
dream with him. You can do this over breakfast. Remember
that its a developmental task to be able to face their fears and fall
back asleep. It's not something that comes naturally, it’s something
all children have to acquire for themselves. Talking about the
dream will help him distinguish between dreams and reality.

Teach him visualization techniques to change good dreams into
bad ones. One good way to do that is to remind him that dreams
are alot like TV. If you don't like the dream, you *can* change the
channel. Have your child pretend to be the monster, that way he
can learn that he alone has the remote control of the dream.
Acting out the dream and playing at what he could do if the situation
arises helps him learn how to deal with real life problems too.

You can also try a dream catcher:

Tell the story and make or buy one to hang in his room to
catch the bad dreams.

The Legend of the Dream Catcher

A dream catcher was made and hung above an infants cradle,
the bad dreams were caught in the web and the good dreams
were allowed to pass through. The bad dreams were then
destroyed by sunlight.

An ancient Chippewa traditon
The dream net has been made
For many generations
Where spirit dreams have played.

Hung above the cradle board,
Or in the lodge up high,
The dream net catches bad dreams,
While good dreams slip on by.

Bad dreams become entangled
Among the sinew thread.
Good dreams slip through the center hole,
While you dream upon your bed.

This is an ancient legend,
Since dreams will never cease,
Hang this dream net above your bed,
Dream on, and be at peace.

The Legend of the Dreamcatcher

"A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space.
It was beside the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother.

Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly
spinning away. One day as she was watching him, her
grandson came in. "Nokomis-iya!" he shouted, glancing
at the spider. He stomped over to the spider, picked
up a shoe and went to hit it.

"No-keegwa," the old lady whispered, "don't hurt him."

"Nokomis, why do you protect the spider?" asked the
little boy.

The old lady smiled, but did not answer. When the boy left,
the spider went to the old woman and thanked her for saving
his life. He said to her, "For many days you have watched
me spin and weave my web. You have admired my work. In
return for saving my life, I will give you a gift." He
smiled his special spider smile and moved away, spinning
as he went. Soon the moon glistened on a magical silvery
web moving gently in the window. "See how I spin?" he said.
"See and learn, for each web will snare bad dreams. Only good
dreams will go through the small hole. This is my gift to you.
Use it so that only good dreams will be remembered. The bad
dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the web."


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

Try saying "If you put your head under the covers, the bad dreams should stay away." also try reading him a nice story right before bed.