Help with My Five Year Old Scared of Her Room

My 3 year old was scared of his room at night too. Like you I had multiple night lights going, the bathroom light on with the door half closed over and all sorts of toys and animals in the crib with him. The thing that finally worked was Christmas lights. Around Christmas he said he wanted Christmas lights in his room. So i put up a few strings not even thinking they would help with his fear of the room. But since they went up, he isnt scared of his room at night anymore. So they are still up and will stay up all year long if need be. :) As long as he is happy and not scared anymore, that's fine with me. :)

i would take her out tell her she is going to find something magical to make her room extra safe at night. and walk her around like stuffed animals or night lights things like that. and she just might find something magical :D.

my son is four when we moved and had him in his new room he'd wake up or have a hard time falling asleep and he said there was monsters or ghosts or whatever and he was scared. we got him a spider man light and a spider man bed set. (he was obssesed) and told him spider man protects people and he would never let anything happen to him and we would turn his lights on tuck him in. and tell him that since the light was on that ment spider man was watching even if mommy and daddy where sleeping and he didn't have to be afraid. it worked he slept great after that.
then we also got to tell him that spider man saw when he was miss behaving hehe. it incoraged better behavior too lol.
who knew spider man was such a super hero lol

is she afraid of monsters or something she thinks is there?? We used "Monster spray".. just a squirt bottle of water and used "Monster Be Gone".. then I used red glitter and sprinkled it around her room, it was safety glitter, no scarey things can enter as long as it's there (glitter takes forever to get out of rugs, so that worked great!!). A special sleeping buddy helps too - one who protects at night - We even made a dream catcher - it traps the bad dreams and lets the good ones thru.. you can get little kids at AC Moore... hope these ideas help.. goodluck

My 13 year old used to have night terrors, would wake up screaming and when I went in it was like he didn't even see me, he eventually grew out of it. Maybe you could create some sort of "protector", a certain stuffed animal or a colored light stick that she can use when she goes to bed. 5 Year olds have very vivid imaginations and often think monsters are going to get them. Has she told you why she's scared?? I would try the light sticks, maybe she could pick out a different color every night out of the "goodnight basket", hope this helps!

They may very well be something in her room that frightenes her. Is it every night or just some nights. Maybe the wind hits her windows differently. That is what happened to our son. At night his room seamed to make more noise than anywhere else in the house. So, we let him sleep in different rooms till we found where he was comfortable and then we made his room there until he felt better. Has she posiablly fallen out of bed or been stuck pj got stuck on a toy) or something like that? I wish that I could be more help but it seams like you have tried avarything. Good Luck

My 4yr. old was afraid of her room. what i did was bought a big stuffed animal of a lion( you could do an animal she would feel safe with) and i told her that the stuffed animal protects her at night when she is sleeping..its worked for 2 months now..

A flashlight or a little book light is good to try. The suggestion about the monster spray is good also. The thing that my son really likes at bedtime is a Glade Lightshow. It costs about $12 and the refills of the scent are like $4. You can change it to be a solid color or it can change colors. The other thing you might be able to use with success is a reward chart. She could earn stars for every night she stays in bed. At the end of the week you could take her to library or to get a special dvd or something. I wouldn't recommend food or anything expensive as the reward though.

Best wishes in solving your problem

I really don't have an answer for you. I have the same problem with both of my girls. One who is 9 and the other is 7. I'm STILL trying to get them to sleep in their own rooms with no luck. I just wanted to say I know what you are going through. Sorry I can not be of any help on this one.

Hi,

Have you tried playacting with her about what she might be afraid of? My SIL was TERRIFIED of a clown doll that had been in her room since she was a baby, and it took her years to be able to realize that she didn't have to sleep with it in there. Maybe if your daughter could pretend to be putting a favorite stuffed animal to bed in the room by itself (in her place) and then she could play the mom, maybe what she tells the toy would give you some ideas about what might be frightening her? Worth a shot, maybe?

My five year old recently decided she was afraid of the dark--I am fairly certain it's the shadows the streetlights make on the items in her room that are bothering her, but also may be the sound of the heater coming on. She received a really great, white teddy bear for Christmas--I believe it's called a "Glow-E" (I've seen them at walmart)--which turns on when you press his paw and cycles through really beautiful, bright colors continuously. She's rarely has any problems now with this bear (though she still makes us keep the door open a teeny tiny crack--we close it once she's asleep).

We also play music softly for the kids at night when they go to bed, which seems to distract them and helps in getting them calmed down and sleeping faster (and therefore less likely to lay awake dwelling on scary things). It also covers up any possibly scary noises.

Hope this helps!

Have you tried a Dream Catcher? That sort of thing usually works with children that age. You can either buy one or make one. It may help...
Good luck!
-J.