Daughters behaviour

[db1diane]

My 8yr old had a nightmare on boxing night , since then she has refused to sleep in our house and screams hysterically if I try to make her . She is sleeping at her grandparents house which is 10mins away , I don't know what to do , I'm open to suggestions

Will she sleep in your house if you sleep in her room with her?

What was the nightmare about?

What would you do if Grandma didn't live down the street? To be absolutely blunt with you, she is your child who presumably you love dearly and want to sleep at home where she lives. The longer you allow her to sleep elsewhere, the longer you are dragging out the issue. Tell her that she can sleep at grandma's 1 more night, then it is home to sleep from then on. What was the nightmare about?

To be honest I think you've done the wrong thing in letting her sleep at grandmas house, and the longer you let her stay there the worse the problem will get.

I agree that you should tell her she has one more night at grandmas and then it's back home.

I'll try and get her home tomorrow, I just couldn't seem to pacify her , I was hoping she would get bored at grans since all of her friends are in our housing estate , she had been playing a game online called Five Nights At Freddys and she said she had a bad dream about it , she's never been a cryer so it upset me when she was so upset

Well, your first mistake was being stupid and irresponsible enough to let an 8 year old play Five Nights At Freddy's.

The second mistake was letting her go to Grandma's that first night. The longer it goes on, the worse it will be. She needs to start sleeping at home to get over it. Even if you need to leave the light on or find some other way to make her feel comfortable. An explanation about how it's only a game etc. would probably be wise.

She needs to sleep at home. You need to have a word with yourself or whoever it was that let her play that game.

Maybe get her a dream catcher. I did this for my son. Just explain that it catches all the bad dreams so they won't hapen? X

Thank you pinklemonade xx

Clean and spray the house with Febreze and tell her it's been treated with monster spray?

For me as a kid my imagination would run riot at night. To this day (now 35) I can't have open cupboard doors, open curtains at night, mirrors near the bed etc. Find out what she is scared of happening and take physical steps to prevent it. If break ins, show her you've locked doors. Monsters under the bed, check under there, spray with "Monster spray" and reassure her. Something in the wardrobe? Same thing.

Hi db1diane, it's so difficult to keep children safe when they have access to the internet. Even if she hadn't played the game herself I'm sure she would of had nightmares about it because it's all over the playgrounds at the moment. I went and checked it out and have to be honest I thought it was pretty scary! I always struggled with nightmares and had I seen it at 8 I think I would probably still be suffering!

VivienneWestwoodsKnickers's & Pinklemonade16's suggestions are a great ones and I know it has worked for other children who have tried it.

You really do need to get her to stay back at your house though, and the longer it takes the harder it will be.

You could also give her a magic torch to keep, or keep the light on for now and she will eventually be able to get to sleep.

Every morning make sure you give her a big hug and spend 5-10 minutes with her talking about lots of things she likes. Knowing you're there for her in the morning will help settle her down of a night time.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feedback xx