4 1/2 yo DD having nightmares

Meiraleah

Tue, Dec 25 2012, 12:53 pm

My daughter just started having what she calls "bad dreams" at night. She shows up in our room multiple times telling me she is afraid of a "bad man" in her dreams but isn't able to tell me anything else...I ask if you know who the man is, what makes him bad, what does he look like, what is he doing, etc. but she doesn't provide me with any information and I dont want to force it out of her. My husband talked to her about saying "I know its a dream" in the midst of the dream if she is scared (he says he had nightmares as a child and this always worked), but she says she can't do that. I ended up in her bed for a few hours last night because I felt so bad. Today we talked about thinking about good things before bed (amusement parks, ice cream parties, playing with cousins, etc.)...she told me she knows she will have a bad dream anyway.

Just to answer some questions that may come up. She is never alone with any strange man....She goes to school, is at home with me, or is at a friend's house accompanied by a mommy/big sister at all times. We've had the talk about strangers. In terms of transition or change in routine, we made aliya this summer, but she is doing amazing (after a hard start)- is very happy, comfortable in her surroundings, lots of friends, bh.

One other point to mention: she and my son (3 yo) often play pretend and they coined this phrase "bad man" when playing police type games, but it never seemed to scare either of them (its been going on for at least a year) and its not something they frequently say, it just struck me as a familiar term that they have used in the past.

Any tips, advice, etc. would be appreciated!