My Son Is Having a Recurring Nightmare

Imagination is a very powerful and scary thing, especially when you are five. You might try giving him a child-friendly umbrella to keep by his bed. Tell him that people who work in utility companies often carry an umbrella with them on their rounds. That way if they unexpectedly encounter an unfriendly dog, they can open it and keep it between them and the dog -- so that they can stay safe. Tell him you are going to leave this umbrella by his bed at night, and that he can imagine taking one with him in his dreams as well. That if the dog comes all he has to do is press a button to open it, and he will have it to keep him and you safe from harm.

Very Best Wishes,

A.

My daughter is 16 now, but when she was about your son's age she began having graphic dreams of people trying hurt us (She and I) she became so frightened she was worried to let me go anywhere without her. We talked about dreams not being reality and how things in dreams can be representative of things and thoughts in our waking day...We had an active prayer life and still do today. I suggested she call her guardian angel and Jesus to come into her dream at the time when she felt endangered and ask in her bedtime prayers for a peaceful sleep. These things would help for a time...I suggested she could alter her dreams by deciding that when she saw the dream starting she wake herself. I don't know if you ever saw Oprah talk about lucid dreaming...it's where you're aware that you're dreaming...sort of watching your dream, from this perspective you can potentially "control" what occurs in your dream...anyway...we tried all these things and sometimes it worked and sometimes we were sharing late night glasses of milk! She's a great kid today...creative and gifted...and she STILL afraid of the dark and STILL calls to check up on me and say "Love you!" The nightmares? Those late-night talks are the memories we share and I wouldn't trade that for a good nights sleep! God Bless!

My own so went through this also at age five. This might sound a little crazy and you may think it won't work but this is what I did. I am really into arts and crafts so I went to the craft store and I bought a make your own dream catcher kit.It costed me about $8.00. It comes with the instructions on how to make it and it also comes with the story about how the dream catcher helps you have less bad dreams. I made it and then I hung it directly above my son's bed. On the first night he slept with it over his bed, I read him the story about his dream catcher and told him to look at it while he tries to fall asleep. I told him that it woould help catch MOST of the bad dreams but one or two might still get through and if they do and he wakes up from a nightmare he should sit up, take a few deep breaths, and tell himslef aloud "it was only a dream, it wasn't real and I'm okay." I also let him know that if he still needed me after all of this I was right down the hall. This seemed to really help my son to have less bad dreams and if he did happen to have one, it helped him to deal with it on his own most of the time. Now that he's 7 , he doesn't really complain about nightmares too much and i f he does happen to tell me that he had one the night before, he tells me what he did to get over it. He is also very proud to point out that he didn't need my help in getting back to sleep.

Hi J. -
If you are open to it, there's a great book that addresses children's dreams and gives solutions to repeated nightmares. It's called "Children's Past Lives," by Carol Bowman and it is an outstanding little book. It will at least give you a new perspective on your little boy's mysterious dream.

Good luck. - L.

I read below about the dream catcher. We also bought one, my son is 7, and every night i take out his bad dreams, and replace them with a few of my good ones "usually" the funny things he did when he was a baby, its our fun routine now and doesnt always work, but seems to help keep the scary dreams away more often then not.

Good luck!

My son had dreams of dogs being under his crib so we got rid of it, it worked for a while then started again I rearrange his room when he get bad dreams, it works for us. They have really slowed down alot and they were always about dogd, he too has never been bitten or anything, but it all started when the neighbors dog gave him too many kisses.

Hi J.
I too agree with what Cathy said I think a little prayer before bedtime would be nice just basically asking god to watch over him and to keep the dogs away that poor baby he must be so scared. I am from the middle east and when you see a dog in your dream it means it is someone who doesnt like either you or him.Good Luck and just do a little prayer for him and see how it goes.

www.janetesho.freelife.com

He might have seen something on TV that resembled his dream. It could have been on the news, a cartoon, or even that program Dog Whisperer. TV can give these little people such crazy thoughts. Those afternoon cartoons are really terrible for little kids. The are violent and inappropriate for kids under 10.....I think. So I would keep asking him where he saw a dog attacking a person. He got the idea from soemwhere. They don't have the mental capacity to just make up things like that. Poor little guy. Good Luck

Dear J.,

My son who is now 17 had a few really bad nightmares until I prayed with him and anointed his room with olive oil. May I ask do you have Jesus in your families life? This is vitally important because it is only through Jesus that God hears our prayers and He is the one who blesses us.
Simply believe that Jesus is the Son of God and ask Him into your life. I took a small dish and placed a small amount of olive oil in it, went with him into his room and asked that the Lord bring peace into the home, making the sign of the cross over his door post, window, his bed, the t.v. and on his pillow. I prayed this prayer with him...Lord please give your angels charge over my family, place a hedge of protection around them, and give us traveling mercies". After that my son had peaceful sleep and was not bothered by any evil dreams.

I think the problem with our young people is that they don't know about hope, and most don't have any. They are taught at an early age in school that God is not allowed, yet things that are against God are taught. Things like giving birth control to 11 year olds, putting a suicide prevention 1-800 number on back of school IDs,etc.

I hope this helps...All my kids are saved and know that the Lord watches over us, and that they will go to heaven when they die...That alone brings me so much peace.

Love,
and Blessings,
C.
p.s. If you do not have a church home, may I suggest Southeast Christian Church on Jordan Rd in Parker.

Hi J.,

You might start with anything else going on in his life that could be bothering him. It might be something as big as somebody dieing in the past few months, a moving to a new house, or if you just go back to work in the last few month. A small thing might be if he is in school maybe he is having a hard time learning to write his name or alphabet