BAD DREAM

BAD DREAMS

Almost any child can have a bad dreams occasionally,

Just as we our selves can too.  The matter is worth some brief consideration because our child’s attitude toward dreams is considerably different from ours. We know, of course, that our dreams are purely imaginative and, however scary they may have been while we had them, we enjoy a sense of safety all over again when we wake up.

Children cannot initially distinguish between dreams and reality.  The result is that they remain very much more puzzled by them than we do and, if the dreams were bad ones, they remain very much more disturbed as well. Because of this, children may easily develop a fear of the dark or of going to bed itself.

There are two sets of things we can do to prevent this. The first is relatively simple and concerns the bad dreams itself. If the child should awaken during the night and cry, it is important that we get to him as soon as possible. Initially the child may not

 even refer to it as a dream.  He may tell us that there was a man in his room trying

to take his fire engine away.  At the age of four or five, he may actually tell us it was a bad dream and report its contents. Very frequently by the time he is awakened he has already forgotten the dream and just acts upset.  Generally all we have to do is to reassure and comfort him.  Offer him a drink of water, take him to the bathroom, truth him in, and tell him about some pleasant thing you plan to do tomorrow.  Stay with him a while, and soon he will return to sleep.

If his cries are excessive and indicate terror, as they might, you will have to do more.

His dreams may well have been of nightmare quality.  When that happens, even though you pick him up and hold him in your arms, he may look at you and react with terror. The reason for this is that you may have figured in his dreams in some grotesque fashion, disguised perhaps in the form of some threatening animal. In his

Half – waking, half-sleeping state, although he sees you  he may continue to react to you as you appear in his dream. It was only make-believe and it is gone now. Stay with him until he falls asleep again.

The second set of things to do concerns the reasons children have bad dreams at all.  We know that dreams occur when sleep is lightest.  When we are falling asleep or

About to wake up are the times most of us are apt to have our dreams. If the child is overtired and has been over stimulated, there’s a good chance that his sleep will remain relatively light during the night. In such a state it becomes easier for him to have dreams. These dreams very easily become bad dreams if the child is emotionally upset.

The only exception is the case of the child who has had some strong traumatic-that is,

Deeply emotional-disturbing experience, such as having been bombed during the war, having witnessed the violent death of a parent, or having been unusually frightened in similarly exceptional circumstances.

Show him repeatedly that you are willing to help and he will eventually feel secure

enough not to have the bad dreams at all.