Tired of 8 yr olds nightmares, ideas?

Question

8 year old son has nightmares about every second night. How should we be handeling this? What is happening right now is he has a nightmare comes into our room and then my husband takes him to his room prays with him and then lays there until he falls asleep. Should we be trying to wean him off of this routine because thats what it's starting to feel like. A routine of being woken up a 4 in the morning and not being able to sleep afterwards!!! I am so tired! How do we fix this? At what age do kids generally start to take care of their nightmares by themselves? He doesnt have a night light but we leave the bathroom light on at night right beside his room and the doors open. He also takes a crank flashlight to bed with him.

Answer 1

My son has them when his "biological "father" comes to see him.  which is rarely.

We just leave the hallway light on, play sleep music in his room, and his fan on low and he falls asleep and does pretty good.

If he wakes up we hold him and then put him back to bed after praying for him.

Answer 2

8 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!! WAT A BABY. I'M...... NVM. ANYWAYS OMG TELL HIM TO STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD OMG COME ON ANY OTHER PERSON ON YAHOO WOULD  SAY THIS.

Answer 3

Hi there.  The previous posters had some great suggestions for you.  It sounds like you and your husband are doing a great thing by bringing him back to his room and making him feel more secure by praying with him, and giving him comfort.

At his age, he is becoming more aware of the world around him and influenced by violence and bad things that he may see on TV, video games, things overheard in school or at home, etc.  These things can cause children to worry and sometimes manifest into their dreams from fear of the unknown or things that "could" happen.  

I would suggest talking to your son while he is awake, and asking him if he remembers what he dreamt about.  It could be something like the one lady said about the car accident or frustration with school etc.  Try to take some time before he goes to bed to hear about his day and ask him if things are bothering him.  Perhaps he overheard an argument and is worried.  Little ones take so much onto themselves as they feel responsible for others being upset, etc.  Also, help him say his prayers before bed, and add for God to please watch over his dreams and keep the bad thoughts away.  He is obviously feeling insecure about something and it needs to be addressed.  

Usually this ends up being a phase.  We all have nightmares on occasion and supporting him and letting him know that it is normal and just a dream will help him.  I know you are exhausted, but please remember he is too and this isn't easy on him either.  Keep up the great job you are doing and continue to be there for your son.  Good luck and hope this helps!

Answer 4

My five year old grandson was going through the same thing.  We tried everything, just like you did.  Even the flashlight.  What finally worked for us was teaching him to pray himself.  I was very careful to ask him what the nightmares were about.  With Anthony, he was having recurring dreams that he was in a car accident with his dad and they both died.  That was really freaky.  So, we explained to him that yes, sometimes people do get in car accidents.  And sometimes they die.  But most of the time they don't.  We also explained why it was so important that he always used his car seat and that the big people wear seatbelts.  We also explained that it was normal to have bad dreams sometimes, and that he was having them because he loves his dad so much and it would be really bad if they did have an accident.  Once he started to realize that it was normal, and that they were as protected as possible, and he learned his special "nightmare prayer" things got better.  We did discover that he'd been watching a movie, which we thought was fine (G rating) but there was a car crash in it.  The movie went in the trash.  Good luck to you.