How to handle normal fears

I figured children having fears at night be a good thing to talk about on Halloween! 

This is a typical time of the year when children who may not have had any fears in the past start to have them.  There are all sorts of scary images out there, even if you try to limit your children's exposure to them. 

There are several different ways to help children through fears they are having.  You should think about your child's temperament, age, and your beliefs to pick what is right for your family.  One thing you should tell any age child is that you are there to keep them safe.

For an older child, explain to them that they are in control of their thoughts.  Bad dreams and fears are thoughts in their head.  If they have a bad dream or thought, they should take it out of their head and throw it out their window.  Then they need to put a good thought back in.  My daughter always likes to think about when we went on vacation to the beach. 

Younger children (as well as older children) may enjoy a prop to get them through their fears.  You can give them a bad thought spray bottle.  Put a little water in a spray bottle and let them spray the air to get rid of bad thoughts.  Some parents call this monster spray and use it to scare away any monsters or anything else your child may be afraid of.   If you do this, be aware that you are in essence telling your child that monsters do exist however. 

Make sure your children know they can come to you if they are scared.  We do want to give them tools to work it out themselves, but I believe that they should be able to get comfort from you if they are truly scared.  If they are using this as a stalling tactic, you will need to try and recognize that and excuse yourself from the situation.

Good luck and feel free to contact me with any questions!

Confessions from a Sleep Coach

Many people assume that because I am a sleep coach, my children are perfect sleepers.  I will say, most nights are great, but there are the off nights.

Last night my 7 year old daughter woke at 1:40 and came to our room and said she was scared.  I walked her back to her room, tucked her back in, gave her a hug and a kiss and she let me leave.  Normally she would need me to talk a bit about what she was scared of and to think of some good thoughts she could think of.  Not last night, I didn't hear from her again.

And then when I got up this morning I learned about what really happened when I went back to sleep.  My daughter told me she climbed in bed with my 5 year old son, asked him if she could sleep with him and he said yes.  Ok, not too bad right?

Then, I talk to my husband who had already left for work.  He tells me he got a drink of water at 3:15AM and noticed there was a door closed that normally isn't.  He opened the door and heard some noise in my son's room.  He went in and found my son on the floor playing with toys and talking.  He put him back in bed and went back to sleep.  He had no idea that my daughter was in there.

Apparently, my daughter got in my son's bed, they "rested" according to her, and then she asked him if they could play.  So they got up and started playing in the middle of the night!  We're not sure how long they had been playing, or where my daughter was when my husband went into my son's room.  When she gets home from school I'm going to ask her where she was - we're wondering if she was hiding somewhere!

See, so no one's kids are perfect sleepers!!  (Although I will say they didn't wake us up during the middle of the night playtime!)

Greenproofing Available!

Hello everyone!

I wanted to let you all know that I am now a Certified Greenproofer.  In that role, I can help prepare pre-conceiving, expecting, and new families on how they can prevent exposure from toxic substances that may pose a potential threat to the health of mother and baby in their products, in their food, in their home, and around their environment.  I am certified through the International Maternity Institute and you can find more information about this course here: http://maternityinstitute.com/baby-planners/greenproofer-certification/

So how did I get into this?  I was very overwhelmed with all the choices out there for my kids.  Trying to find the right shampoo and conditioner, not to mention the healthiest food was becoming a lot of work!  I had some resources, but wished I could just have someone give me the best information out there.  When I found out that the IMI trained people to do this, I was intrigued.  I figured that this would be a compliment to the sleep coaching business I was already in.  Both sleep and living toxin free lead to health!

If you are interested in a Greenproofing Consultation, please contact me.  We will set up a time for me to visit your home and figure out what areas you would like more help in.  Then we will have a followup phone call where I will give you information based on what we discussed at the initial visit.  I will give you lots of resources so going forward, you can figure out if products are truly toxin free. 

I am also putting together a webinar to go over some easy ways you can remove toxins from your home.  I will be announcing that when it's ready on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sleepwellsleepsolutions and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VaSleepCoach.

Thanks - and write to you soon.

Michelle