Nightmares - any advice please..?

[outnumbered2to1]

My DS1 who is 6 had a such a bad nightmare last night that it left himshaking and practically hysterical for a good hour afterwards.

He didn't want to discuss it or talk about so i just gave him plenty of cuddles and reassurance but he was still pretty subdued this morning going to school.

I finally got him to talk about it as we were having our snuggle up on the couch after dinner. He had dreamt that i had been shot and had said he was so worried about me today that he wanted to come home from school at morning interval.

How can i reassure him that the chances of this actually happening are really really slim. I have blocked all the other channels in his bedroom so he can only get cartoons (not even BBC or ITV or channel4 or 5) so i know he hasn't been watching anything more violent than Tom and Jerry.

You could try something like a dreamcatcher - DS3 (7) went through a stage of bad dreams and I completely sold him on the idea of dreamcatchers (they catch the bad dreams and keep them away) - we have one over his bed and it seems to have done the job.

I think at the 6/7 sort of age they do start to realise what death is all about, that parents won't live forever etc. All you can do is tell him that you hope you won't die until you're at least 102 and he'll always have people to love and look after him.

he did ask what would happen to him and his wee brother if anything did happen to me (i'm a single mum). I told him that all his aunts and uncles would be fighting over who got to keep them but that since nothing is gonna happen to me it's a moot point.
he asked if he could live with uncle charlie (his favourite uncle who is like another child even though he almost 40!!)

I was quite specific with mine - they know my mum did die when I was quite young so it feels more real/likely to them than most children, I think. Anyway, I've told them exactly who would look after them if anything happened to DH and I, and it's someone they know well and like. I think it does help.

yeah well uncle charlie is the top of my list and also the named guardian in my will. He is also DS2's godfather.

He's been asking alot of questions about heaven recently too. An uncle of mine (whom he didn't really know) died in october of lung cancer and a neighbour of my mum's who has known him since he was a baby died about 3 weeks ago so i think its been on his mind.

Loads of cuddles and reassurance over the next couple of weeks i think. (like i need an excuse to give him more cuddles)

been a quiet night tonight so far (fingers crossed) DS1 doesn't like dream catchers. My mum has one over her headboard in her bedroom and he hates it.