So how do you deal with witches sneaking into dd's bedroom at night?

[Xihha]

As I've mentioned in a previous thread, dd (4) is a little unsettled at the moment due to lots of changes in her life.

Dd is convinced that there are witches sneaking into her bedroom at night and making things fly round her room, she's cried about it a couple of times a night the last 4 nights running, I've tried checking her cupboards, under the bed etc to show her there's nothing there, she says they sneak back in again once i leave the room, tried shutting the window but a) its too hot and b) she says they can open it and I've tried reading her stories about nice witches but she says that the ones in her room are definitely nasty witches.

Obviously I don't actually believe there are witches sneaking into her room but she is absolutely convinced, any ideas how to reassure her?

Witch repellent spray should help ( plant mister with a few drops of lavender oil). You could get her to decorate the mister with sticky stars and glitter.

It is well known that witches hate glitter and lavender.

She can also sleep with a magic wand under her pillow. This will prevent witches entering as they can sense the presence of a magic wand and will not approach unless invited. This is a witch law.

Finally a sign saying: 'no witches by law' on her door (which she can make) will complete the protection.

How about a nice friendly dragon to take to bed?

Ours is called Nobby and he is extra specially good at chasing off witches, monsters and booboos (pigeons) though he often gets told off for eying up her baby brother.

Best 20p I ever spent at a jumble sale.

Ask her if she has any ideas what might get rid of the witches.

A magic force field?

You could play a game in the daytime where you battle the witches and kill them and let her take one if your weapons to bed.

My parents used to say "the words" when I was scared of the very same thing at that age. I blame The Witch In The Cherry Tree, which was a favourite story of my DSis at the time. The fact that we had a cherry tree in the front garden didn't help.

The words (I still remember them) were:
Hocus pocus what not not
Witches must not not not
Come into ET's room when ET is there. (Obv they used my actual name)

It worked - no witches ever came in.

As an aside, my dad tended to substitute "witches" with "Margaret Thatcher", so I grew up thinking she was an actual broomstick-wielding pointy-hat-wearing witch.

When DS1 had problems with witches and monsters a good fairy sent him some fairy dust (glitter in a pretty little jar) which he sprinkled around. He also had some fairy cream at one point which was if I remember correctly body glitter.

DS2 had a magic dragon too which scared anything and everything away.

See this is why I should always ask MN before i ask the MIL, she told me that playing along would make it worse as id be telling her witches were real!

Thanks for all the advice, I have all the bits and pieces to do most of those and Im sure ds(9) wouldn't mind lending her his toy dragon that he never plays with anymore til i can get her one.

EvilTwins, Margaret Thatcher was an actual witch wasn't she?

I would do what mil said. Make perfectly clear not real

Same here. Why encourage it?

Just because a child knows monsters aren't real in the light of day, doesn't mean they won't convince themselves there's a witch at the window when they're alone at night. 'Knowing' there was no wolf behind the door made no difference to me, and I'm sure that's true of many children.

How would you convince a child they're not real though? I mean actually convince them enough for them to know that in the middle of the night?

My older ds is a very smart, lovely child but has absolutely no imagination at all so I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before where as dd has a very vivid imagination and can describe these witches in great detail.

By the way, have you checked that there isn't a toy or an object or something fluttering in the window draught/casting a shadow that actual looks or sounds scary? A daddy long legs in the room, a street light flickering or branch outside flapping? A mouse in the wall? Sometimes fears are based on real things and imagination makes it terrifying. Ad the light summer nights means more noise and light outside.

'Protection' devices work much better than rationalism for kids when the problem is an ^irrational' one. They work just as well on dim-witted adults, really (Power of PrayerFFS). So get your DD a 'witch-repellant' spray or a special protective teddy or recite a No Bad Things poem every night.

Yes definitely go with the witch repellent.
Maybe pennies on the window ledge to keep them away.
Or painted stonesfrom the garden. As it is well known that they are part of fairy magic.

We fortunately haven't had to deal with the darker side so much, but all my dc have very vivid imaginations with belief in fairies, imaginary friends etc. Their beliefs are v real and strong. Even when I tell ds that I'm sure his friend wouldn't say/ do that he will get more upset as he then thinks I think he is lying. He will be more earnest and urgent in his assertions.

I would say to try the above ideas, but maybe escalate them as necessary, so one idea a night until you find the tipping point, which may change as the 'witches' become immune.

Was going to suggest similar - DD had a dream catcher. Incredibly versatile thing as it stopped monsters, bad dreams and the occasional 'baddie'

I agree about repellent sprays/talismans. Something else that I did with DS1 was to get a very intimidating friend of mine to come along and say a short poem warding off the nasties in his room forever. DC1 watched her and that was it, no more nasties bothering him.

I've used magic before but my easiest option was to leave the dog in their room for the night. The special tag on her collar shows she is trained at chasing away said bad thing

Yes don't try to convince her they aren't real, it just won't work. DS got very upset when I tried but as soon as I said mummy doesn't let monsters in the house, he was quite happy. Mummy's rules are enough apparently!

I had monster and ghost repellent spray. Worked a treat.

When I was small I was scared of a huge antique wooden wardrobe my parents had in there room. I was convinced an evil witch lived in it . Nothing my parents said or did could convince me otherwise.

Eventually I pretty much outgrew my fear, then my parents got new bedroom furniture and the scary wardrobe disappeared.

I never knew what happened to it till last year when I went with my dad to visit a distant relative and it was in the bedroom I was staying in! Freaked me out slightly and I barely slept.

I slept on the floor if mine came in scared,until the stage passed.I found with both the stage did pass quite quickly.

I know that's not for everyone but it worked for me.

I suppose it's because I remember lying in bed scared rigid as a child,terrified of the monsters but also too afraid to disturb my parents again.
I still remember the feeling of just wishing someone was there with me,because I knew that would make it all ok.

My friend's DS had a fear of 'the witch in my room', too. She got him to draw a picture of the witch, then together they screwed it up and put it in the kitchen bin - no more nasty witchy!

Oh and when mine felt brave enough for me to stay in my own bed,I set up a baby monitor so they knew that if they woke up scared they didn't need to be able to get out of bed,if that was too scary - they just needed to speak and say 'Mum,I'm scared' or something and they knew I would hear them and come.

Lavender pomanders over the door and windows - I drew the line at garlic bulbs to keep vampires out though (used silver crosses instead, I was NOT having garlic upstairs).