The kids were talking about dreams they have had. One of my girls has a recurring dream in which her hand falls off and the kids pass it around the van! My second daughter Joy asked me how they can remember dreams if they were asleep. I told her that our brains are still active even during sleep. Little Jason, age three, piped up, “Brains are scary!”
Our Little Jason has been afraid of the dark ever since he heard the “scary tiger” outside his window. Oh how I wish I would have known what was terrifying him sooner. By the time we figured out the spring growth on the trees had caused the branches to scratch on Little Jason’s window, he was irrevocably scared of the dark.
We tried everything we could think of to get him comfortable with the light off. We talked to him, prayed with him, and showed him that things are still the same with the light off by turning it on and off with him. We tried night lights; they made scary shadows.
So how did we solve this? We let him sleep with the light on. It has been about a year now and he has been perfectly happy. I felt like a failure for not helping him get comfortable with the dark again. Then I told myself (I talk to myself a lot!) that he will eventually outgrow this. This too shall pass! So we are going to let time take care of this bed time battle.
The Pajanimals, available only on 24-hour preschool television channel Sprout, features four fuzzy friends who wind down for bedtime in a cozy and reassuring way. The show helps you tackle common bedtime issues like getting out of bed, bad dreams and scary monsters.
Check out Sprout’s bedtime tips! Also, by replying below four Laugh With Us Blog readers will win a prize package – including a Pajanimals DVD and The Sleepeasy Solution book, written by the sleep experts at Sleepy Planet.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sprout. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.
