Lights on at night: are your DCs (or you) afraid of the dark?

[letsgomaths]

I've been thinking how I used to be really afraid of the dark as a child, and outside my bedroom, the landing light had to stay on. I got over it as a teenager, but I sometimes wondered if I was the only one; nobody else in the family was nervous about the dark. There was a time I nearly freaked out when we visited an underground place, and were told to turn our lights out so we could see what the pitch black was like.

What happens in your house, do your DCs have any lights on at night?

When they were very small we had little lights that you plugged straight into the electric socket and gave off a soft glow. they seemed happy with that. It also meant that you didn't need to put on a proper light when dealing with most night-time emergencies, so not too much disturbance. Both stopped wanting them by the time they were about 7.

DS2 is 3, he just has the light from his glow egg as a night light. DS1 had a night light till he was about 8.
When I was young I always had the landing light on, I was scared of the cupboard in my bedroom!

I still have as many lights on as possible at night My dcs are teens now, one has always been fine in the pitch dark, the other liked the landing light on until quite recently but doesn’t seem fussed now. If I could sleep with the ceiling light on I would

No, but living in a city there's lots of ambiance light

One child is, one isn't. One insists on lights and sounds and people about and the other prefers pitch dark and silence. Just different personalities.

I still have a source of dim light from somewhere. 1dc the same, one not bothered.

I really don't like sleeping in pitch black rooms, I don't know if I'm scared as such but I find it very unsettling when it's so dark that I can't see across the room.
Luckily I live in a city and there are so many street lights that my bedroom never gets too dark. I do pack one of those plug in night lights if I'm staying somewhere, like in the countryside, where there is very little outside light or if there are blackout curtains.

I watched a lot of horror films when I was a kid so I don't like having all the lights off 😬

My children prefer it to be pitch black.

I have to have a light source. Pitch black sends me into a panic. I fear this has rubbed off on my eldest.

I'm scared of the dark, I struggle to control my breathing as panic sets in with anything less than dim light in or outside of the house. It makes me feel incredibly uneasy.

Neither of my kids like the dark and prefer to sleep with the door open and glolight on.

No. I’m happy in the pitch black and silence ( and ideally with a nice cool breeze). But conversely, too much light and noise makes me anxious and I can’t sleep. I basically need to go live off grid!

Kids: one like me, one likes his room to resemble the Blackpool illuminations.

One is, one isn't. We have a plug in night light for the one that is.
I was afraid of the dark (still don't like it) and always punished if I got upset.

I had an abusive stepfather so I wasn’t allowed to have the light on because it ‘wasted electric’. I was petrified of the dark and had recurrent nightmares, also sleep walked a lot.

My DD’s don’t like the dark so the landing light is always on. No qualms from me.

We have a lamp on the landing.
It's for me, I'm not afraid of the dark in particular I'm afraid of waking up in the dark. I had a bad experience when I was younger. Can't fall asleep in the dark since and if the light is off when I wake up I panic.
On the upside it does mean I can fall asleep in light places like trains or planes.

Thanks all. I like the total darkness now, as long as I know where the light switch is. In my box of childhood stuff I came across a plug-in light, from the 1980s, with "Mothercare" embossed on it. I plugged it in, and it still lights!