Parenting Article: Fight Back Against Nightmares

Sometimes children have nightmares. But if your child is losing sleep by frequently waking up with them you need to find out the root of the problem. And do something about it. Death. Divorce. Parents who frequently argue. Instability in the home. School bullies. All can cause stress. Stress can manifest itself in nightmares. If your child has serious stress I urge you to see your family doctor.

Simple help for night frights. If your child wakes up with a bad dream go to them. Reassure them you're there and they are safe. Do not ever yell at your child because they woke you up. Try this: Give your child a reassuring hug and ask them what's wrong. Their answer might or might not make sense. Either way you can say something like, "Boy, that seems to have upset you." You are giving them comfort by understanding they are upset. Even if the dream doesn't seem scary to you it was to them so you need to empathize. You can say, "That does seem like a scary dream." After you comfort them, get your child to focus on something else. Ask them if they would like to get a glass of water or go to the bathroom. If your child keeps crying you can tell them a funny story that happened that day; Or something funny the dog did last week. The intention is to get them to stop thinking about the nightmare so they can go back to sleep. You can talk more about their nightmare the next day when they are more awake and have gotten some sleep.

Reoccurring bad dreams. During a quiet moment, at breakfast or after school, ask your child questions about their latest nightmare. If they say a big hairy gorilla ran up to them, picked them up and yelled "Scram!" think about this. Did you child watch a gorilla movie on T.V. two days ago? It might have been too scary for them. This gives you the heads up on what your child can deal with. Monitor what they watch. No more scary movies. And be proactive. Ask, "How do you think you can stop having bad dreams?" They might not know. Or they might know. Deep down inside they might know they shouldn't be watching scary movies. Or they might give you a revelation. "The gorilla looked like dad." Does your husband scream at your child for not doing his homework, or for being late for dinner? This could be scaring your child.

To combat bad dreams. When your child goes to bed get them to think happy thoughts. Anything from vacations, their dog, making a triple hitter, etc. The sky's the limit. Also, let them read a funny story before going to sleep so that's the last thing they remember. If your child is young tell them, or read to them, a happy or funny story. Also try this: During the day, get your child to think of ways to stop a dream if it starts going bad. If a gorilla runs after them again in a dream, they should firmly think, "He can't hurt me!" Have them see in their mind's eye a big feather. With this feather they should tickle the gorilla to make it laugh. As the gorilla laughs he grows smaller and smaller until he disappears. Now your child is safe.

Please be proactive. Some parents tend to think, less said soonest mended. I believe this is not true with reoccurring nightmares. Acknowledge there is a problem and set out to try to solve it. If you don't teach your children how to solve a problem, how will they ever learn to solve problems? Ignoring a problem doesn't make it magically disappear. And I believe it can cause further problems down the road.

The case of Mr. Boney. One little three-year-old I knew kept having nightmares of a boney man who would lean over her bed and scare her. This happened about a week after Halloween. Her parent and I were inclined to think it started due to seeing a child dressed up as a skeleton on Halloween night. The three-year-old was asked what might help make Mr. Boney go away. She wasn't sure. It was suggested that putting up many signs around her room saying, "Mr. Boney STAY AWAY!" might help. This was done and it helped. The nightmares lessened and gradually went away. Lesson to be learned: Try to find the cause. Then take action against the nightmare.

Book Review: Fairytale with pictures- Little Red Riding Hood

“Little Red Riding Hood,” story and photos by William Wegman. Mr. Wegman is known for his Weimaraner (type of dog) photos with Fay Ray. In this classic fairytale he uses photos of his dogs dressed in costumes to help tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Pictures really are worth a thousand words. Kids will think the dogs look pretty silly.

Movie Review: Mary Poppins.

Movie Title: Mary Poppins. Disney Musical. Rated G. A proper English nanny, Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews), comes to live with a middle class English family. With some magical assistance her two charges learn to clean up. A friendly chimney sweep, played by Dick Van Dyke, sings and dances to the tune of "Chim Chim Cheree." Children should enjoy the animation scene where Dick Van Dyke dances with penguins.
Towards the end of the movie the children’s father learns to be a better parent. When Mary’s not needed anymore the “dream nanny" fly's away using an opened umbrella. If your kids haven’t already seen Mary Poppins they should. It’s a classic.

Arts and Craft Project: Paper Clock. Help you child learn how to tell time

Paper Plate Clock.
To help teach your child how to tell time.

You will need a stiff white paper plate, marker, metal paper tab, and a piece of construction paper.
1- With the marker write the numbers 1 through 12 on the paper plate like it was a clock.
2- Using the construction paper make two pointers for the hands of the clock.
3- Make a tiny hole in middle of plate with pen knife.
4- Put clock hands in mid clock position. Now punch holes through clock hands with metal tab. Secure tab in back. Note: Do not make the tab so tight that it is hard to move the hands of the clock.

Show your child what 1 o’clock looks like, then 1:09, 1:15, 1:20, 1:22. Half past 1. A quarter to 1. Ten to 1. And so on. Do this with rest of the numbers on paper clock.

Parenting Tip for Super Active Kids

If your child has a hard time sitting still in school or at home when doing their school work let them stand while doing it. Talk to your child's teacher about this idea. Also, during homework time give your child a break every fifteen to twenty minutes to run around to get their energy out. Have them do jumping jacks, jump with a rope, or jump on a small trampoline.

Great Study Tip for Kids, Preteens, Teens

Study Tip for your child: If your child has a hard time remembering history or science facts here’s a tip a teacher taught me. Make up a word or simple phrase using the first letter of each fact. Example: Your child needs to remember the five oceans of the world. They are the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic (or Southern Ocean). If your child can remember the first letter of each ocean and put them together to make a word, phrase, or something similar it will help them memorize the oceans easier. In this case if your child can associate “PI triple A” to the names of oceans it will trigger their recall of them. PI is for Pacific and Indian. Triple A is for the Atlantic, Arctic, and Antarctic. If your child has to remember a date like May 1919 they can think, “I like to play in May double 19.” Even if they can’t remember the whole phrase it will trigger their memory about May 1919. But don’t make the connecting word or phrase so difficult that it confuses them. The whole point is to have the word or phrase jolt their memory. This can help when you stress out and blank, or have the answer on the tip of your tongue. I have used this method myself when I don’t have a pen and paper handy and I have to remember certain information or groceries to buy. The phrase “sugar without the u” can help you remember to buy soap, grapes, apples, and rice. Your brain tries to fill in the blanks when you give particular letters to words. If you remember soap, apples and grapes, but you blank on the last one this method will prompt your brain to find the connection between the grocery and the phrase. You might think and think, “What is the r grocery I need to buy?” then it will hit you, “Oh yes, it’s rice.”

St. Pat's Day's Recipe: My Big Sister's Grasshopper Pie

Grasshopper Pie
(And no, it doesn't really have grasshoppers in it)

First buy or make 8-9 inch pie crust.

Ingredients you need for pie filling:
25 large marshmallows
1 cup of whipped cream
½ a cup of milk
3 tablespoons of Crème de Menthe (this is liquor)
2 tablespoons of Crème de Cacao (this is liquor)
3 drops of green food coloring

Pour milk into mixing bowl. Melt marshmallows (in another container). Once melted add marshmallows to milk. Stir in Crème de Menthe and Crème de Cacao. Add drops of food coloring to mixture. Fold in whipped cream. Pour in pie crust. Freeze pie overnight. Serve frozen.