How can I help a child with nightmares? Dream expert Craig Webb discusses how to help a child overcome the fear of nightmares. Inevitably your child will have a nightmare - a scary dream that will cause...
Inevitably your child will have a nightmare - a scary dream that will cause them to wake up frightened. As a parent, how can you best help your child during this scary time? Should you be concerned? Dream analyst and author Craig Webb says nightmares are going to happen, and the most important thing to do after your child has a bad dream is listen. Look at it as a way of building a communication network between you and your child.
"First of all realize that it's a really important experience for a child to have a nightmare. In other words, don't disregard it by saying, 'that was just a nightmare, don't worry.' I'm not saying not to comfort the child; that's a good thing. Usually, children are going through pretty major stressors emotionally or they are going through tough situations that they are working out in their dream," Webb says.
When your child dreams about the boogie man or has some other terror in the night, many factors in the child's life are involved. As a parent you have to be on top of everything your child is doing to figure out where the bad dreams are coming from. The better your communication is with your child, the more you can read into your child's nightmare.
"Another common reason for nightmares is that they are watching emotional events in a family, such as divorce, arguments, or death of their grandparents or sibling. They will also often have nightmares from watching scary movies or observing other things that upset them, so we have to be wise about what types of input we put into their awareness. Not that we can or should protect them from death, but keep an eye on what kind of mental food we feed our children - scary movies and such," Webb says.
Having a scary dream doesn't have to leave the child feeling alone and afraid. Bad dreams can teach children how to cope with life situations. When a child talks to you about a nightmare, he or she realizes you are always accessible in times of need. You also help calm them down. By doing this you can also prevent the child from having the bad dream again. Once children are frightened by a nightmare, they can repeat the dream if not dealt with properly.
"Once they've had a nightmare, you'll want to help them realize the valuable lesson that can be learned from the dream by talking with them about the dream. Always try to leave the child empowered with a plan of action to be more peaceful if the nightmare happens again," Webb says.
According to Associated Counselor's and Therapists (ACT), children have more nightmares than adults, and they tend to have them before the age of six. Nightmares then tend to wane as children develop and grow in age. Once they start feeling they have more control over the world, their lives aren't filled with as many insecurities. Then you don't have to worry about them being scared of the dark anymore.
