help!! 10yr old scared to sleep because of silly stories at school!!

[Sammieantha86]

Hi all

my 10yr old son has never had a pproblem sleeping - until the past few nights, the kids at school have bbeen telling silly scary stories and now every night my boy is in floods of tears, unconsoleable, thinking someone is going to get him and his family. We have tried everything to help him, lights left on television on, snuggling him up constantly reassuring him, sitting with him until he falls asleep but nothing seems to help

any advice welcome as really dont know what else to do

very concerned sleepy mommy xx

I know it's not exactly the same stage of development but my daughter (3.5yrs) had terrible nightmares - was really scarred to go to sleep. They started all of a sudden and went on for months. Really vivid imagination!

I found a fantastic product - Sleepeasy spray from Australian bush flower remedies. On their site they talk about how it works for older children too, so that's why I thought I'd mention it. I also blog about it here if you're interested - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/03/13/does-your-child-have-nightmares/ Really feel for you and your son, nothing worse than being scarred to go to sleep.

I was going to suggest sleep easy - mine is from Indigo essences. My 5 year old is on her second bottle and only occasionally asks for it after suffering from a bad dream spell.

Even if you are not woo It might be worth getting the Rescue Remedy from Bach essences - There's a night one with White Chestnut to stop overthinking as well as the usual 5 essences, including 3 for fear. Boots, H&B etc stock it.

Take drops with water and also make your own spray with a few drops in a plant mister and spray around the room to make the room 'safe and comfortable' concentrating over the bed area.

It's not necessarily 'woo' you are going for, but rather a positive affirmation that things are OK to counteract the negative words. Actions speak louder than words, which is why a child seeing something being done can trump negativity from verbal sources.

This happened to me when I was that age. A girl in my class told me a horrible story about a killer china doll (!) and I had one in my room. I was terrified! My mum let me sleep in her bed for a couple of nights and we moved the china doll out of my room!
My mum listened to my fears and we talked about them - I think that helped me as once we'd talked about it, it wasn't so scary!

We are currently going through this as my son cant sleep as he is scared of micheal jackson. Yes king of pop micheal jackson after surgery. So I will try some of these

I suffered really badly with nightmares/scared to go to sleep at that age too. A friend's sister read out a particularly nasty part of the Stephen King book 'Misery' and I was distraught.

Had to sleep with my Mum for a good few nights and had big chats with my parents about imagination/fiction/reality etc.

I'm still easily spooked! Usually helps to watch/think of a cartoon and turn on a light. HTH