The nightmare continues

My poor little Sophie keeps on having nightmares and there seems to be no pattern as to what may be causing it. Sometimes she is too hot, sometimes she is too cold, sometimes she is just right. Sometimes she is sick and sometimes she is well. Sometimes she has some sweets after dinner and most times she doesn't. There really seems to be no link between her waking life and her sleeping life that causes the nightmares! The subject varies from time to time and the most recent spout of nightmares involves sharks. Sharks in a pool, sharks in the ocean, sharks in the bath and all the while they are either chasing her, her friends or someone in our family. So I did a bit of Googling...

Apparently water in dreams links to your unconscious mind and therefore anything that is in the water will likely link to your feelings or intuitions in some way. Sharks specifically tend to relate to worries and fears but I am puzzled as to what kind of fears Sophie may be experiencing. I did a bit of further reading and apart from feelings stemming directly from Sophie, the sharks could link to moments when she senses bad feelings within others or her environment feels bad or poisoned in some way. This is a very possible reason because she is such an empathetic little soul that she easily picks up on how others are feeling. With all of this information in mind, I will pay closer attention and try and work out where this fear or unease is coming from. 

On a general note regarding nightmares or night terrors, I came across this amazing site that I highly recommend taking a look at: http://creativedreaming.org/media-library-2/childs-dreams-and-nightmares--patricia-garfield.pdf It gives you specific questions to ask and actions to take to help your child when they experience a nightmare. It is so thorough and as you can imagine, there is too much information to effectively discuss in today's post. I do however want to give you a little bit of advice to take away and apply tonight if your little one is in the same boat as Sophie. So here it is:

First Aid for Nightmares 

1. Encourage your child to describe their dream: "Tell me about it"; "What happened next?"; "Then what did you do?"; "How did it end?". 
2. Discuss alternative solutions to the nightmare.
3. Suggest your child use an alternative solution if the dream occurs again
4. Give lots of love, cuddles and reassurance to let the child know they are safe (I added this part because while the author of the article doesn't mention it, it is pretty darn important!)

I guess the most important thing to remember when your child experiences nightmares is that you can actually empower them to change their dream for the better. Just by talking with them you can empower them to become active rather than passive in their dreams; teach them to conquer the fear that is plaguing them and teach them to stay and fight (appropriately of course) rather than run and hide. Just remember the phenomenal power of your words as a parent and use them wisely.