I chose this subtopic because of personal occurrences that my own children have dealt with. I have always thought that nightmares are from experiences in life that your brain is trying to file away but gets stalled. For children I know that it is important for them to not be exposed to traumatic situations, but let's face it we live in a society that is dramatic and everything is observable through media. Our children are freely watching this and as we expect they have no idea how to absorb it. I found it hard to foster my own child with their emotional needs when they were experiencing nightmares. Hugging them and telling them softly that it was not real, it was just a dream. But what else could be done to ease the pain after the nightmare?
For this week's assignment, I have just began collecting resources to support my research. What about all of my colleagues, do you have ways to foster the emotional needs of a young child after nightmares?
Hi Crissy, I can honestly say that I wouldn't know how to foster the emotional needs when it comes to children having nightmares, It is good that research has been done on it because I am sure a lot of parents have dealt with this and didn't know how to handle it or even began to help their children to understand that it wasn't real. Looking forward to hearing thru your post what research has said about this.
ReplyDeleteHi Crissy,
ReplyDeleteMy children have slept walked and have night frights. If your children don't remember anything the next day or if you ask them what they were dreaming and they can't tell you, they might actually be in a deep sleep like my children are. This is what I have read. If your children don't remember, let me know. I have lots of experience with this sort of thing. Three of my nine children had trouble with sleep walking. Part of this was yelling for me because they weren't aware that I was there when I was there. At the same time, I could tell them to use the toilet and they would sit down but might not pee if I didn't turn on the faucet. These were the three who were more likely to wet their bed.
Liz Thomas
Liz,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Liz. Personally my son gets in a deep sleep and is still wetting the bed, even though we cut off liquids at 7 and make him go to the restroom at least three times before he goes to sleep. So any advice you have would be amazing. Thanks again.
Crissy
Hi Crissy,
ReplyDeleteThe reason I asked you if they seemed to be awake or if they did not respond to what you said, for example, is that when my children have screamed when they are not awake, it is like sleep walking because they are in a deep sleep. For some reason, when they are like this, the less I say the better. I still take them to the bathroom, sit them down, and tell them to go, and turn on the water faucet to help them relax to go, but then I take them back to bed and say as little as possible. They keep saying, " Mom," but they don't really understand that I am there. Every once in awhile I say, "I' m here," but saying that or anything else too much seems to irritate them, and they are more likely to scream. They try to keep getting out of bed, but they have nowhere to go, so I keep preventing them from getting out and say as little as possible. They are not scared in the normal sense. The next day, they are perfectly happy and remember nothing. This keeps me calmer. It is irritating when they yell because I can do something, so I count to 500 in my head so that their yells are more like thunder outside that will just go away after awhile. Besides keeping them in bed, it seems to go away faster if I don't try to help them. I think it is the need to pee that originally wakes them up because these are the three out of nine that wet their beds. At first, I didn't realize it was related. My son is 24. He was the first to have the problem. I wished I knew what I had figured out before my ten year old had the problem when my son was little. That is why I'm telling you. Your kids might be doing the same thing.
My ten year old daughter always woke up around 11. This is when she would wet her bed if I did not take her when she had night frights. Sometimes I was too slow, You could try taking your son around 11. If you are too late, go earlier. When you take him, he might pretty much stay asleep, so you would have to sit him down and turn on the water. There is something about being asleep that won't let them go without the faucet, especially if they are the ones that wet the bed.
ReplyDelete