Help with nightmares and such.

[infomama]

OK...I've never been a fan of clowns. Now some little shmidt told dd1 this clown story and bedtime has been rough.
If clowns scare you don't read this story. This story was told by a 2nd grader to my 1st grader.
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So this scary raspy voiced pointy toothed clown who calls out to you from the bottom of your staircase. "I'm on the first step....I'm on the second step...and so on until we get to 'I'm in the hallway' and finally 'I'm in your room". Oh...and this clown holds a bunch of balloons and apparently the clown randomly pops balloons and this means someone has died.

WHAT THE F??? What is this kid watching on TV???

No amount of reassurance works and she says she is having nightmares in addition to the bedtime heebie jeebies. She is not consumed by this....it only comes up at bedtime.

[kristenk]

How horrible.

DD went through a period where she was afraid that mean with swords were going to get her (thanks to Tangled!?!). She woke up a few different nights with bad dreams. We went through discussions of swords and how she was safe, etc., but she was still worried about the sword men coming in her dreams. So, I told her that she had to practice changing her bad dreams to something funny. Instead of the sword men coming at her, I had her picture how surprised they'd be when their swords all of a sudden turned into bouquets of flowers and they all started hitting each other over the head with them. I had her come up with some options, too. I also told her that she'd have to practice thinking of the funny thing and it would get easier and easier to get the bad thought out of her head.

I also started telling her what she *should* dream of each night. I'd go through a few different options each night and she'd decide what she wanted to dream.

Good luck!

[Melanie]

Sounds like someone has been watching Stephen King's IT.

Clearly for the 7 year old audiences. :irked:

What are people thinking...:duh:

[Edensmum]

Give her a spray bottle with water and tell her it will dissolve anything bad, especially clowns.

[Melaine]

That is HORRIBLE.

[kristenk]

Bumping to see how last night went.

[infomama]

Aww...thanks. Last night was fine. The dog stood (slept) guard and when I saw her this morning before work she was smiles. I asked her if she had any bad dreams and she said she didn't. I told her that I hope she was becoming more reassured as the nights went by with no scares. She nodded. It was a good morning but I still think this is going to be an issue for a while.....especially when she sees that kid again at school.