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Sleep is essential to the growth and development of children. The quality and quantity of sleep children need vary on certain factors, especially age. Sleep plays a vital role in every child’s physical and mental health. With enough sleep, your child is ready to face the next day full of learning, playing, and other activities.

Your child cannot enjoy the benefits of sufficient sleep if they suffer from a sleep disorder, such as insomnia. or nightmares. Nightmares are a common response to fears or changes in life. Your child may experience them from time to time. But if nightmares are ongoing or intense in nature it may be time to take a closer look.  

What Nightmares Can Become

It can be difficult to prevent nightmares, though it isn’t impossible. Ignoring them and hoping they go away may not be the best approach. When nothing is done to address nightmares, your child may develop a phobia of sleep, inducing insomnia, anxiety, and even poor health. You may start seeing your child avoid bedtime, call to you, get out of bed frequently, and/or get into your bed in the middle of the night.

Nightmares can be part of adjusting to challenges such as divorce, academic difficulties, or bullying. It can be helpful for these nightmares to be processed and addressed. Counseling can help with this. 

When nightmares persist and their content becomes too disturbing for your young child, this could be a sign of unresolved conflicts that need to be addressed. 

What You Can Do About Childhood Nightmares

Unfortunately, you can’t be there in your child’s dream to defend them from their fears. You also don’t want your child to be deprived of needed sleep because of scary dreams. At a time when your child needs your support, the best you may be able to offer is the reassurance of your presence and possibly a new, happier ending for their nightmare. “Rewriting” nightmares can be effective, though they don’t usually get rid of nightmares altogether. Therapy can help. 

Just like a story in a children’s fairy tale book, someone has to break the spell. In this case, Carolina Counseling Services – Fayetteville, NC contracts with therapists who can help. Counselors are not armed with a magic wand, but with expertise on how to decrease the frequency and intensity of your child’s nightmares. CCS is here to help, call soon!