Dark Dilemma, cont’d
My fellow blogger, “Monday Mom,” and I both have children who fear the dark. Jack is frightened at night as well. He must have his night and dresser light on when he goes to bed. If it isn’t bright enough, a ghost will come out of his closet and get him.
I remember as a child I had a fear of the dark, too. In fact, I think I still do when I’m home alone at times. I Googled this issue to see how other parents handle this or what the pros have studied. I learned that these fears are a healthily developing imagination and growing knowledge that the world does not revolve around them.
One of the best things to help treat this issue is to have a good lighthearted chat with your child. I have had many chats with Jack about this, and it’s usually long after the bedtime process begins. I don’t want to dismiss his fears in any way, but want to get the point across that no ghosts live in our house. Most nights it’s an hour evolution getting Jack to sleep. If he doesn’t fall asleep on his own while we are reading books, storytelling, singing, or me rubbing his back, I know it’s going to be a long night. Having a newborn in the house to care for already has me sleep deprived, so finding the patience gets a little challenging.
Another point the article made was playtime during the day while using their imagination can sometimes backfire since those “characters” can fuel inventions of demons during the night. To me, that makes perfect sense. For example, Jack loves to play with his trains and create different problems for them. The Diesel engines are the bad guys and seem to cause a lot of problems and heartaches with the other trains. When Jack doesn’t like someone or something he calls them a Diesel 10 which is the scary train. Perhaps, the diesel engine is one of the contributing factors to his fears.
All of these fears have started over the last few weeks, specifically, when baby Tate arrived. I don’t know if this is Jack’s way of getting extra attention, one on one, or if he really has these fears cooped up in his head at night. Maybe it’s a little of both, but all we can really do as parents is comfort them with the reassurance of safety and hope that will help their fears disappear.
Tags: bed time, fears, Wednesday Mom: Janelle
