My dd has bad thoughts

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She says that she has trouble getting to sleep as she imagines something bad happening to her or me or the world

She's a bit of an anxious child generally, but how can I help her with this? Is it something I need to be worried about? I feel for her

How old is she, transfer?

I went through this when I was about 10. couldn't get to sleep cos i used to lie thinking (often quite literally) about members of my family dying and the devastating effects it would have on our lives. I don't remember how i got over it...so i'm probably not being of much help....but i did get over it.

I think all you can do is talk to your DD and be there for her and reassure her. maybe sit with her for a while before she goes to sleep and talk over what is on her mind?

i remember my mum telling me that we aren't able to control what happens in life, but that doesn't mean something bad is going to happen, so worrying was pointless. she would encourage me to think about the positive things that were going on at that time.

she's nearly 9

My DD was exactly the same, always at night as she was trying to go to sleep, she'd worry about us dying, awful things in the world, she'd worry that she'd been alive for 9 or 10 years, but hadn't done anything with her life, and that her life was disappearing before her eyes. My Ds was like this too, but his was triggered by events, for example that experiment at CERN scared him rigid, he was unable to sleep etc, lots of tears, he was 10/11 then

Lots of reassurance, but difficult.

thanks for your replies

so it was something that you/your dc eventually grew out of?

yes, just something i grew out of. the one thing that i particularly remember about how it was handled was just lots of reassurance from my mum, as RBOTP said. i think children are a lot like us and when they are still at night, that is when their minds ponder things. your DD will stop having the bad thoughts eventually. just lots of talking about nice things before bed and lots of cuddles from mum. she'll be fine :)

thank you breadandhoney

Yes. Well touch wood we haven't had it for a while. DD is 13.