Nightmares are something most kids experience at some time or another. They are afraid of sleeping in the dark and their imaginations get the better of them, filling them with fear about what is hiding under their beds and in the dark corners of their rooms.
Both of our girls preferred sleeping in pitch dark when they were babies. But as they get older, they both need to sleep with some kind of night light as they’ve become scared of the dark and what might be hiding there.
Our youngest daughter is six and has experienced bad dreams and nightmares since she was about two. What she dreams about is influenced by what she’s read, watched, or played with during the day and tends to go in phases. She’ll be obsessed with a toy, cartoon, or character from a book and they will fill her dreams too.
Whatever it is takes over her imagination, making her worried about going to sleep.
Katie Pickle and the Monsters Under the Bed
Reading “Katie Pickle and the Monsters Under the Bed” by Sarah L Jones reminded me of our daughter.
She’s got a midi sleeper bed with a space for her to play underneath. She loves playing in it during the day and spends time chilling there when she needs to. It’s got curtains across the front so she closes them when she needs time to herself.
I dread cleaning and tidying her den space because she keeps anything and everything there from half-eaten snacks and odd socks to toys from when she was a baby and things she’s “borrowed” from her big sister. But the space under her bed is also a source of worry for her when she’s in bed.
Our daughter sometimes gets worried that what’s under her bed includes monsters, or that her toys will come to life during the night, just like Katie Pickle.
Katie Pickle has a big imagination that can sometimes make her think that hungry monsters are hiding under her bed at night. The story helps young children combine their vivid imaginations with the power of mindfulness to change worries into happy thoughts full of colour and fun that helps them have a peaceful sleep rather than one full of nightmares.
I read the book with our daughter and she was able to see herself and how she feels sometimes in the story. She loved the colourful pictures and adventures Katie goes on with the white unicorn.
She wasn’t in the mood to try the mindfulness counting techniques when we read the story, so we’re going to try them next time she feels worried about going to sleep. Hopefully, they will help her manage her worries and have better dreams.
About the Author Sarah L Jones
Sarah L Jones is a qualified NLP and Mindfulness practitioner based in Dorset. She has helped children of all ages develop emotional intelligence skills to cope with anxiety. When children learn how to reframe negative thought patterns, they develop confidence, resilience, and happiness.
You can purchase “Word Worries” from a range of retail outlets including Amazon and directly from Austin Macauley Publishers. Please note the link to Amazon is an affiliate one which means if you click on it and buy the book I get paid a fee.
If you’d like to find out about other great books, head over to the review section. If you’ve read Katie Pickle and the Monsters Under the Bed, leave a comment and let me know what you think.
