[mahalo425]

Hi Mommas!

My son is just beginning to go through the phase of being afraid of things at bedtime. I'm just curious - what were/are your kids afraid of specifically? What gave them comfort?

I've heard of everything from sharks to screaming banshees!

[pumpkinpie24]

"The bad guys."
DH likes to have DS watch inappropriate movies with him, like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where you watch a kid his age get taken away.
The past two nights he's insisted on having the lights on. We turned them off after he fell asleep last night but he woke up crying to have them turned back on.

[cybele]

The worst one we had to deal with was Dita, when her great-grandmother (DH's grandmother) died, "in her sleep" and she overheard that term and became scared of going to bed in case she died.

The more irrational, just plain odd ones weve had, are:

Lizards (Dita)
Crocodiles (Azriel)
Bees (Azriel)
Trucks driving through the bedroom window (Sunny)
Skeletons (Lux)
Tree monsters (Sasha)

[Cesca]

Kayley mostly isn't really afraid of anything. She prefers to have her light on at night but I think that's more so she can play til she falls asleep cause she does fine in the dark too. She saw her brother get stung by a bee last summer so she's had a lot of nightmares about bees since then. Though I think that has more to do with how hysterical he got. (he's on the autism spectrum so some things throw him into hysterics)

[kerian]

Kyla just says she is afraid of her room. she hasnt told what or who though.

[mspwifey]

The dark is the biggest one. They've also expressed fears of bears coming in the house (after a vacation to Yellowstone Park), strangers getting in the house, "monsters", and strange noises.

I always reinforce to them that they are safe at home, daddy and I would never let anything hurt them, and that Jesus and the angels are always watching over us, protecting us. We always say prayers before bed, so I include a special prayer about putting angels all around the room and around our house to keep us safe and help us not be afraid. If I forget, they'll always remind me to say a special prayer for good dreams and angels to watch over us.