So now he says he doens't want to go to bed in case the aliens come and get him...

[georgiemum]

Little 'un is 4.5 and has until recently been going to bed on his own ok, settling down and going to sleep (sometimes creeping into our bed in the middle of the night).

The last couple of nights he had been going on about green aliens and being afraid and not liking his room. He is fine if he jumps into our be by himself, then decanted into his own bed when we go to be.

We both have rotten colds and sinusitus and it is hard to be sympathetic after a long day...!

Any suggestions on getting him to believe us that they don't exist and that nothing is going to 'get him' and that we are here to 'protect him'.

I still let ds sleep in our bed sometimes (to go to sleep) then move him into his if he's pretending to be scared.

has he got an alien zapper? (some sort of plastic sword to sleep with)

I wouldn't make much of it. He's probably enjoying sleeping in your bed a lot! You can either choose to put your foot down and insist he starts in his own bed and put up with the tears or just wait for him to get bored of it. Would it work if you read him a story in his own bed?

Get out the christmas lights and create a 'non-crossable vortex' across the windows so the spacemen can't get in.

Perhaps you are the green aliens if you're producing a lot of snot?

I do like the idea of an alien zapper! He has now crashed out on the sofa... I was worried that he might still be doing this when he is 30!!!

I am wearing a green velvet shirt... (very fetching BTW!)

I have used 'Monster spray' in the past.

It's basically room fragrance which gets rid of monsters if you spray it in the corners of the room.

I think Homebase do an aliens one

My kids all believe in fairy dust ( even DS) this is highly protective against all sorts of night time things such as bad dreams aliens etc. (Tis a pot of glitter and is kept in a special place and liberally sprinkled as required).

lol yes I know what you mean. Ds is 7 but I think he's been having a tough time at school which is why I'm letting him get away with it

we bought DD a 'Sully' from the disney store and he scares the aliens/monsters etc

worth a try!

I think the 'aliens' thing is coming from the same kid place as the 'cut off his head' and 'then he is dead' and 'is he a skeleton now?'. Phwwwwww. Kids, eh?

I keep telling him - the only thing you have to be scared of is me when you won't let me eat my supper.

What's a 'sully'?

sorry Sully is the big monster in Monsters Inc film

but he's a good monster

Love some of the suggestions, room spray how clever. My 4.5 year old won't go upstairs on his own as there are monsters vis versa.
He get up in the night about 1-2 a week doesn't give an excuse because we are too tired to ask him. I might try all of the suggestions

Ds has been doing fairy stories at school and has been having bad dreams about witches. He now knows I am the biggest witch in THIS house (which ain't far wrong) and no other witch would dare to come to our house or even to our town with me around. Having mimed booting out the witch under his bed and then mimed the witch with the sore bottom (bottoms are always good for instant hilarity here), cast the most powerful spell in the world to make her go away, she hasn't made a return. We've also read Mr Majeika to counteract bad witches.

Dh disagrees and thinks I shouldn't give credence to them but telling him it isn't real doesn't make the fear go away, just makes him think he's alone in dealing with it, and showing him how to deal firmly with pesky witches is an important life lesson imo.

Heated Bravo, it also makes them laugh which is great.

Oh yes - fairy stories at school.

He did say that he had a dream of wolves chasing me (I did tell him that I would be chasing them, and would probably eat them given half the chance). He is a bit obsessed with wolves just now too.

I tell him that I am the meanest thing around here too and that no 'baddies' can come because they are all scared of me! And that is true... Wait until he is old enough to hear about how the house I grew up in was haunted, now that was pretty scary!

There is a book called Aliens Love Underpants - maybe worth getting? It makes my 5 year old laugh. It basically says how they don't come down to earth for YOU, they just love underpants and come looking for them! And once they've got some they are happy and fly off in their space ships again! It's all done in a big rhyme, and like I say, it makes DS1 laugh as it describes how they love playing with different types of underpants and boinging on the elastic etc! All the kind of thing that a boy that age would love.

I know this is a PITA but it's also fab, because it shows your dc has a fantastic vivid imagination.
ds2 (7) is like this, at the moment he's having nightmares about War of the worlds (school topic), then it'll die down for a while and something else will come along to keep him awake.
ds1 on the other hand, has never had a nightmare, or unsettled night ever, he also has absolutely no imagination. (he's a mathematician)

I usually use fairy dust, magic wands/swords/light sabres, night lights and story cd's but as they get older it gets much easier to settle them in their own bed again.

Would Buzz Lightyear/Toy story be a good antidote? It's ds' absolute favourite film, he has to sit and watch it with Buzz and Woody perched on his knee.

Thanks Starbear Ds' new one is being scared of shadows at the top of the stairs which I can't make go away so any suggestions warmly welcomed.

Have also made a note of zappers, vortexes and monster spray

Playing shadow puppets?!!! Not sure coz I don't have that one yet. I used to have a torch that you could have pretty Disney pictures on the walls at night. I don't know if someone still makes them.