What are young children’s common nightmares? Here’s a list:
- Falling down.
- Being chased.
- Evil or bad presence is around them.
- Monsters.
- Supernatural beings.
Sigmund Freud wrote about Hans, a young boy, who was studied by his father from the age of 3 years old. The first dream he recalled was their former landlord’s daughter, 13 years old, in Gmunden. She was his play mate.
When Hans was 4 years old, he started having anxiety dreams or nightmares. He became upset after dreaming his mother had left him. (Freud, p. 18) Whenever he went crying to his mom, she would allow him to sleep in her bed. This became a habit.
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Children who have very anxious mothers may see her as a metaphor in dreams. The mother who is feared can be represented in dreams as a scary animal, or scary person like a witch. Mothers, try not to exert stress or pressure on your children.
Children around 5 years old have these nightmares:
Monsters.
Girls around the age of 12 years old and entering puberty see these nightmares:
- Bad humans
- Small animals.
(Nightmares of girls from 12 years old)
Boys around the age of 12 years old and entering puberty see these nightmares:
- Monsters.
- Big animals.
(Nightmares of boys from 12 years old)
Behaviors of children who fear nightmares:
Kids think that sleep brings nightmares. They may try to delay bedtime to avoid dreaming of nightmares. They are anxious, fearful and worry about impending sleep and nightmares. They fight to stay awake. They pretend they want to stay awake longer because they fear seeing nightmares when they sleep.
Children may ask to sleep with their parents, caregivers or other adults in the house. They desire protection and assurance that help is at hand. Should parents allow young kids to sleep in their bed? Freud had always warned against the dangers of too much caressing on children. The kids may get over stimulated.
How to avoid nightmares in young children? Kids should be primed to sleep at a fixed hour. Their body will learn to relax and shut down for sleep. Parents can help to establish a bedtime routine. Calming activities like reading story books, listening to music or other quiet activities can help the body to relax.
We must try to avoid giving input that stimulates negativity like stories about bad humans, monsters, and threatening animals. Fairy tales are not good reading material before sleep because those stories contain animals, bad humans and fantastical plots that frighten.
it goes without saying that TV that contains exciting input are bad for watching before bed.
There are no monsters under the bed:
Its dark under the bed. That’s why kids are afraid of monsters lurking in dark places. If your child tells you about fears under the bed, you can help to dispel this fear by shining a light under the bed to show that there are no monsters. Get a night light to plug in for the child’s bedroom at night. The light will be a source of assurance that there are no scary creatures in the dark.
We hope that this post helps in giving tips on how to prevent or reduce frequency of nightmares in children.
