This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Family Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Although my daughter, after three-and-a-half years of her sweet little life, has been relatively (BIG emphasis on that last word) easy to deal with from a behavioral standpoint, bedtime continues to be an issue for us to this day.
Since just before one year old, this child has some type of demonic, Pinhead-from-Hellraiser-like opposition to going to sleep. I, of course, chalk it up to her hyper-intelligence. She is clearly too stimulus hungry to allow her oversized brain to rest during a period where it could be calculating complex equations or contemplating the general meaning of life. But at 9:45, when she has gotten out of bed for the 4th or 5th time, even geniuses become annoying.
Just when it felt like we were making some progress, a new reason for sleep-denial has surfaced. Monsters. There are a few things I need to point out about this issue.
1. I may be somewhat to blame in that I thought it would be a good idea to “toughen her up” for Halloween a little by repeatedly showing her this guy the last time we were at Target.
2. I am not so sure that she is actually still frightened by them or has just realized she can leverage Crypt Keeper-esque stories to stay up later. While she did seem frightened in the beginning, it does appear that we may be being manipulated a bit at present time.
The question is not so much how to get her to sleep. We already know we will never be able to do that. Forget it. Acceptance and complacency is the key to happiness. Its that we don’t have a great technique yet for chasing the monsters out. I put a little flashlight in her room, and we check the entire room now before going to bed. We don’t tell her there are no such thing as monsters, but rather focus on the fact that, if there were monsters, they certainly wouldn’t be here because we have a dog and because we have checked her room. We do all the preschooler advice-blog stuff. Bottom line is, its not working, and with Halloween right around the corner, I suspect it may worsen before it gets better.
So here I am again, using this forum to ask whether or not any of you have come up with an effective monster antidote. Monster spray? D-con Monster traps? Lifesize cutout of Jason or Freddie Kreuger? (He will keep the monsters out, sweetie, he’s mean.) Suggestions are appreciated.
Matt
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October 13th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Just an option to consider, but worked for me and my children…our house is blessed. The power of God can be awesome to a child, too, if that is part of your lifestyle already.
Barbaras last blog post..The Cost of Becoming $ensory Integrated
October 14th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Well, I truly have no personal experience handling this. My 2- and 3- year old have (so far) not shown any fear of monsters. Of course, I think I’m semi-obsessive in sheltering them from scary shows/movies/pictures…
Anyway, have you considered using a book like “Go Away, Big Green Monster” By Ed Emberley? It’s designed to help preschoolers feel like they have some “control”… And I’d bet there are dozens of other good books to tackle the topic…
Just a thought… and good luck.
JessieLeighs last blog post..Coping With Loss
October 15th, 2008 at 12:49 am
I hate to plug my own site but at least it isn’t a post I wrote. Mike wrote something along these lines some time ago. His mnemonic, “The only monster in this house is Daddy” makes good sense to me.
I happen to have an imagination as active as any 3-4 year old if not worse. We’ve not had this problem much because I’m always willing to wait out the monster. See what he or she looks like or sounds like. My daughter and I will talk about the monster at great length and demystify it to the point it appears more like a heffalump than anything very scary. This is one of those challenges I like. It’s why I think my wife keeps me around. Good luck!
Chcuks last blog post..The Traitor
October 15th, 2008 at 4:42 am
That’s a tough one. We haven’t ran into this issue with our two year old yet. Although he did get freaked out by the ghoulishness in the Target Halloween section, it hasn’t translated into bedtime problems. Good luck.
VegasDads last blog post..monday randomness
October 16th, 2008 at 4:01 am
My daughter isn’t scared of monsters @ night, she’s scared of puppies coming into her room (it’s a long story). What’s odd is that my daughter, who just turned 3, loves to look at the “scary stuff” at Walgreens and Target and it hasn’t seemed to bother her. I’m afraid that one day it will hit her @ once and she’ll never sleep again.
One thing I heard about, to help with “monsters” is to have her help you make a “monster spray” that you spray around the room and under her bed before bed time. You make it with water and some food coloring, or any combo of safe ingredients and spray it around the room saying “Monsters don’t like this stuff” and maybe that will help. Just a thought
Tyler @ Building Camelots last blog post..Happy Birthday Olivia! Has It Already Been 3 Years?