Sleep. Most nights, he says he doesn't like bedtime.All nights, he's beyond tired. And when he needs to sleep, he needs it. All twelve hours of it. But right now, he's in a nightmare phase, & he doesn't want to sleep in case he has a bad dream.
It's heart wrenching- knowing they feel this way, thinking of all the ways to comfort them. Trying so many different creative ways to make them feel safe, yet knowing once again it's not working. That it's a 'normal developmental stage.'
Because even when the full hour of bedtime is calm & relaxing, it just takes that one sentence, in that one minute, 'I don't like bedtime, I have bad dreams,' to rip your heart out again. Even if a minute later, he's slumbering, even if he sleeps all night long & wakes up happy; words are a powerful thing.
'The Dream Catcher is to be hung by the window or at the head of you bed. Traditional beliefs hold that dreams come from outside ourselves. Thus the dream catcher is meant to act as a spider web & catch the good dreams to ease us through the day. The bad dreams pass through the hole in the center to be burned up by the rays of the sun. The feathers symbolize air or the breath of life.'
