Things That Go Bump In The Night

[Guest]

A Mum approached me yesterday, asking whether we had any books on dragons in nursery, as her son has been having terrible nightmares about them for at least a week, & she wondered whether the idea had come from a book. We established that there were no such books in nursery & are trying to get to the bottom of this. She is very concerned as he refuses to go up to bed & parents are settling him downstairs before transferring him to bed once asleep.

He says the dragon sits on his curtains. They've tried taking the curtains down to no effect & are considering re-decorating & moving the furniture around.

I asked whether it was possible he'd seen something on tv, but she swears he goes up to bed at 7pm so wouldn't have seen anything unsuitable.

I asked him about the dragon & he said 'it's scared', which, from what mum said, I took to mean it scares him. He says it's black & tries to get him.

I put to Mum that it could be a bat, as it ties in with being black, wouldn't look very nice, & may well hang from the curtain pole. Mum says the windows are kept closed though so how would it get in, but it seems possibly the most logical explanation. It did also occur to me that it could be a ghost/angel - not sure how I feel on that score, but I like to keep an open-mind.

 

Firstly, does anyone have any suggestions for how to deal with this, or what this could be.

 

Secondly, does anyone know of any good books about friendly dragons which may help to allay fears; so far I only have George & the Dragon (with the mouse), but I'm sure there must be more out there.

 

Mum is expecting a baby in a couple of months, & I wonder whether it could be linked to that? Another possibility is that the initial fear has now been overridden by a habit of not going down to sleep at night.

 

Help!

[Sue R]

Oh Dear!

 

A book my children liked is 'The Incompetent Dragon', but I cannot for the life of me remember the author. It's about a dragon who keeps getting his magic wrong and how he brightens and eventually changes a sad little boy's life. It's quite long, but the pictures are great and the ideas are amusing.

 

It's at nursery at the moment, but I'll try to remember to post the author's name on Monday.

 

Sue

[Steve]

The Dragon's Purpose is another 'friendly dragon' book! By Martin Baynton although I can't seem to find it in Amazon at the moment.

 

What's the lighting like in his room. Does he have a night light?

[Guest]

The Dragon's Purpose is another 'friendly dragon' book! By Martin Baynton although I can't seem to find it in Amazon at the moment.

 

What's the lighting like in his room. Does he have a night light?

40420[/snapback]

 

Not sure about the night light - Mum said he has black-out curtains & a blind.

[Guest]

Not sure about the night light - Mum said he has black-out curtains & a blind.

40425[/snapback]

I remember being terrified of my curtains when I was little - the patterns seemed to merge together and I could see horrible faces when I was trying to go to sleep.

 

Maz

[Rea]

My brothers curtains made us laugh. They had planes on them one of which was Foker Wolf. Well, you can imagine

 

Seriously, I used to tell my children that monsters and such like were scared of MOM'S, absolutley terrified, and would never stay in a house where a MOM lived. Used to tell playgroup children the same thing. We also used to ridicule them (monsters, not children!) until the children were laughing with us.

[bubblejack]

This little boy must have a vivid imagination. It is hard to know where they get their ideas from and even harder to monitor every childrens programme that they watch.I have watched daytime T.V. and seen cartoons and stories about scary things. I know from experience that it his hard to find the reason.Both my own children went through this stage and we tried to play it down and left the landing light on to avoid shadows.My grandson is going through a stage at the moment when he doesn't like sleeping alone but he has to so he has his door open with a light on and his favourite toy beside him.

It could be that this child is feeling insecure anyway because of the expected baby. I wouldn't advise any parent to settle their child to sleep downstairs before they carry them up to bed.

[Guest]

There's no such thing as a dragon by Jack Kent would be ideal for this situation-a very friendly dragon and simple picture book. I used to have to repeat a 'monster spell' every night to banish the monsters in my young daughter's room before she would let me leave her in the room alone. Maybe reassuring the parents that this is a very common problem would help. I think making drastic changes to the bedroom may not be a good idea as it reinforces the idea that there is something to be scared about. i always tried to keep myy monster spell light -hearted and gradually it turned into a mutual joke.

[Guest]

My brothers curtains made us laugh. They had planes on them one of which was Foker Wolf. Well, you can imagine   

 

Seriously, I used to tell my children that monsters and such like were scared of MOM'S, absolutley terrified, and would never stay in a house where a MOM lived. Used to tell playgroup children the same thing. We also used to ridicule them (monsters, not children!) until the children were laughing with us. 

40430[/snapback]

Brilliant idea! Need to check carefully that all children have mums who live at home though. I'll definitely try this one with our children!

 

Maz

[Guest]

As Deb W. has said there is a lovely book titled "There's no such thing as a dragon". It is one of my favourite stories. Billy says there is a dragon in the house and mum says there's no such thing as a dragon. The more she tries to ignore it the bigger it gets-just like problems! And that is the whole theory-the more you ignore something the bigger it gets-especially if it is a problem. Very appropriate for this young child.

Linda

[Guest]

i used to have a spray bottle i brought from boots . filled with coloured water and a label with monster spray written on it. jolly useful for getting rid of monsters. i am sure it would work for dragons as well.

[Rea]

Oh wow, brilliant idea. I almost wish my lads were little again (almost, I said)

[Guest stuk]

I used to tell my own children that if they said "Go away monsters, I know you're not real", the monster would go away. I am sure the same would work for dragon's!!

It is a simple idea but it worked!!.......Thankfully!!!!

[Andreamay]

I quite like the idea of it being a ghost or angel

[Guest]

I quite like the idea of it being a ghost or angel 

40495[/snapback]

I'ver heard of children who have had these kind of experiences (when they have grown up they may tell stories of something that happened in their childhood). But they usually report being comforted rather than frightened.

 

Maz

[Guest]

On the other side of the coin, so to speak, instead of saying the dragon isn't there, or acknowledging it is, but that it is scary. Why not buy him a cuddly toy dragon who would make friends with his scary but lonely dragon. Say the "lonely" dragon can't get to sleep until cuddly dragon is tucked up in bed with him ( not on the sofa) and fast asleep. During the night, take cuddly dragon away, then ask in the morning "is the lonely dragon still there ?" No he isn't he must have gone off with his new friend, never to return, as they've both gone off to dragon land.

 

worth a try

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Wake up Charlie Dragon is ok - although he does breathe fire at the end but only to light his birthday candles. It's a story about a dragon who sleeps through the year and misses special times such as easter, bonfire night (or does he sleep through his birthday and gets woken to light the bonfire? Can't quite remember now!) either way, he has friends throughout the story and appears quite friendly.

 

There's also the dragon who couldn't help breathing fire, but might be better for slightly older children. (I have used it with reception) It's about a friendly dragon who has no friends because everyone is scared of him, but he helps someone light their oven or fire or something at the end and he gets a friend.

 

The dragon spray sounds a great idea! I wish I'd had that when my boys were little.

[Guest]

Could the fact that Halloween things seem to be absolutley everywhere nowadays have something to do with the little chaps worries?

Just a thought.....

[Guest]

On the other side of the coin, so to speak, instead of saying the dragon isn't there, or acknowledging it is, but that it is scary. Why not buy him a cuddly toy dragon who would make friends with his scary but lonely dragon. Say the "lonely" dragon can't get to sleep until cuddly dragon is tucked up in bed with him ( not on the sofa) and fast asleep.  During the night, take cuddly dragon away, then ask in the morning "is the lonely dragon still there ?"  No he isn't he must have gone off with his new friend, never to return, as they've both gone off to dragon land.

 

worth a try

 

Peggy

40508[/snapback]

Pure genius Peggy!

Maz

[Guest]

As always, I thank you oh wise ones!

I think this week could turn in to a dragon week.

The book titles you offered sounded great, but unfortunately I got outbid on one on ebay & There's no such thing as a dragon is out of print, so I might need to visit the library.

But plenty of food for thought here. You're all fantastic! (but then you knew that anyway!)