Is your child afraid of sleep alone? .. Social psychology tips to deal with the problem and ways to solve it

Beirut- Childhood is one of the most emerging stages in which fear appears, as many children during sleep suffer from extreme fear.This fear may be accompanied by screaming, severe crying, sudden and sudden awakening, which makes the child afraid of his bed.

The second problem that millions of children suffer from is fear of darkness.The question here;How did the child enter the idea that there is a monster when it is dark?How do mothers have to deal with the fear of their children when sleeping and during it?

Be a nice and firm

"I don't want to sleep in my room alone, I am afraid of darkness, there are monsters that will kidnap me.".These repeated words daily that "Jad" calls the ears of his mother, and Lina Nahas - the mother of Jad - tries to calm him down and that nothing deserves this fear, but his sitting for long periods of watching horror movies, and terrifying reports about the jinn and monsters that made him see many nightmares.

This prompted "Lina" to prevent him from watching and deleting these channels, then understanding that this is not real and realistic, so that he does not remain in his imagination and affects his psyche.

She was very understanding and a picture with him and tried to address and confront this fear in the best way, which is the confrontation and that all of these matters are not realistic, and re -feel safe and not worried.But this issue took a long time with the help of psychological treatment, and in the end she succeeded in returning her son to his usual nature.

Among the most important things that Lina adopted in treating her son;Reducing pressure on him by avoiding watching movies that include horror scenes, talking to him about his problems in school or with friends and trying to solve them, and maintaining family stability without any family fight in front of him, and embraced him in a frequent way to notify him with safety while reading helpful stories before sleep.

Nahas says, "The mother must be nice with her son and firm at the same time to get a positive result that gets rid of her child from the fears he is going through during that period.".

Fear treatment in proper ways

And the specialist in social psychology, Mona Darwish, believes that talking quietly with the child about fear and giving him confidence in his ability to overcome two things that are very important..This is what happens by listening to him and talking to him, and telling him that fear is a natural and expected thing from real things.

"Although we know like adults, the wonder of micro monsters does not exist, but the child cannot easily imagine the absurdity of the belief that such frightening things, especially when understanding the many sources of entering such frightening ideas into his mind and thinking.

The psychologist asserts that "it is natural for the child's fear to increase at night and at sleep.It is natural at the time to start expressing his need for his mother and his desire to be with her, and specifically to sleep her near her bed.What is required of the mother to appear to the child is close to him and surround her with care and sincerely her sense of what he suffers from, and it is good to understand that it is natural for him to search for his mother and safety with her, and that his mother will be with him and his next to him.But the mother should not continue to respond to his requests, specifically sleeping with her in her bed.She must gently and gently resist this request, because sleeping in her room permanently will not solve the problem..

Mothers' warning

The specialist Darwish notes that it is wrong to address him by saying, "I will search under the bed to prove to you that there are no monsters, or if you were a rational and straight -sized boy, I would not have been afraid of the ghoul", because this gives the child indirectly a feeling that his fear mainly;Or that the thing that is afraid of it can be around it..

The child should also be removed from watching horror movies in general and fairy films before bed.

In addition to not being forced to sleep in a dark room if the child is afraid of darkness, and not insisting on extinguishing all the lamps during sleep, but light lighting can be used, and leave the room door a little open, this gives him a feeling of comfort and more safety.It is wise to exist next to the child and give him kindness, without entering any details when he wakes up terrifying because of a nightmare.Be careful not to blame the child or scream in his face during this case.And communicate with him by touching, that is, the child must be bored and his hand must feel safe and reassured, and not leaving his bed to feel that everything is fine.

Support methods

Darwish recommends an attempt to reveal the psychological, social and educational problems experienced by the child, and the mother must show the utmost patience in dealing with the child.

Screaming, punishment and neglect are universal methods, and although it makes the mother comfortable, she leaves the child troubled, and he may be accompanied by sleep disturbances..

In addition to trying to carry out activities during the day, it focuses on enhancing the child's confidence in himself, building his personality and gaining new skills, and encouraging him to face his fears at bedtime.

Darwish believes that there is no child who has no game or something that is strongly related to him, so the mother must search for the child's favorite game and put it next to him in the bed as his companion, and this gives him a feeling of comfort and safety.

Common errors in the treatment of fear

Darwish refers to the common mistakes in treating fear of sleep in children, which are widespread methods, such as the inherited popular methods of teaching the child to sleep alone, but unfortunately it is one of the wrong and failed methods that increase the concerns and mental disorders in children, the most important of which are:

- Cleansing the room of monsters: One of the wrong methods in treating the child's fear when sleeping, which is when the mother resorted to the representation of the room cleansing from monsters before bed, and this method may give the child a feeling of safety at the beginning of sleep, but it undoubtedly enhances his belief in the presence of monsters in his room, and doublesFrom his fear and increases the chances of night dismay and intermittent sleep due to fear.

Fixed sleep routine: maintaining a fixed routine for children, but this is not a major part of treating the child's fear at bedtime. Rather, trying to impose the sleep routine by force on the child may contribute to enhancing his fears of sleep.

- The child's deception: It is to say to him that you will not leave him alone in the room, and that he must try to sleep only, then you go out as soon as the child enters sleep.This method is very bad and causes more harm to it than it benefits.The child must understand that he will sleep alone, and you can exclude him from returning to check on him once or twice at night, no more.

- Leaving the TV works in the child's room: It is not advisable to have a sound in the child's room.Also, you should avoid relaxation records spread on the Internet, because the child should sleep in a quiet room with a very dim lighting or dark lighting.

Neglect: Many parents believe that leaving the child alone deals with his fears and treats himself himself is the best solution, but the truth is that neglecting the child and letting him live with his fear of darkness, monsters and bad guys may help him to create a solution, but this solution may be a reason for more serious disturbancesAnd including some sexual disturbances.