My Daughter Is Now Scared to Sleep in Her Room Because of Shadows........

I would try letting her sleep with a flashlight. That way she could get rid of any "mean" shadows on her own. Giving her that power over them might help her sleep better.

I think all kids go through thsi stage, it is tough being in a room all by yourself. Just think it is big dark and lots of strange things around. Have you tried laying with her until she falls alseep and having some white noise int he back ground water, music, fan (my favorite) that has always helped my kids. It doesnt last forever, soon she will not want to leave her room becasue you are just not cool enough to hang out with,lol.

ps the angel thing below is good i bet that would work too!

Hi.. I think all of the suggestions so far are great ones. Trying to get her to understand what makes the shadows is probably the best way to go.

But.. if you sit down and ask her why the shadows, the ones that have been there all along, scare her.. LISTEN to her answer. Maybe they weren't there before. Maybe something is casting a new shadow.. and if you can find it, you can show her. And if you can't find a reasonable answer.. talk to her again and try hard to find out why he shadows scare her when it's bedtime only. You might be surprised with what she says.

If you want.. email me at ____@____.com and I will go into more details of what might be scaring her just when it's time to sleep. I went thru something similar with my daughter and it has taken me 17 years to figure it out for sure.. don't take as long as I did.. please.

D.

Sounds completely normal to me. She'll get there. If you don't have to push it don't. Make that room the best room in the house. You and Dad should start hanging out in there. Take a nap yourself in there, etc.

This may not be helpful right now, but... My sisters and I were scared of the dark when we were little, and that's normal for every child. It shows their imagination is working; but sometimes little kids can't tell the difference between what they imagine and what is real. My parents left the hall light on during the night, and we could leave our doors open as far as we needed, so long as we stayed in our rooms. If we were very scared or had a nightmare, she would help us pray to feel safer and to be able to sleep, and then she would leave us in our room. Over the years, I needed the light less and less, and would gradually have the door shut more and more, until only a sliver of light would come through, until I finally decided to try being more "grown-up" and to actually shut the door. That was around when I was a pre-teen. That seems like a long time perhaps, but think of the positives: we knew our parents' expectations and so we slept in our own beds, but we also knew that there was always light in the house to keep away the monsters. And the decision to close our door completely was left up to us.

Here's a thought about shadows: you could perhaps take her outside and let her "play with her shadow" at sunset, when it is long and funny-looking. Let her see that everyone has shadows, but they don't DO anything but copy your movements. Maybe have a shadow-puppet party, if she'll let you. (I'm not there yet with our child, who is only 13 months, but that's what I can think of right now.)

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At 5, mine still gets scared of certain shadows. We run her ceiling fan because if it's stopped, it looks like a spider to her. Can your daughter tell you which things make scary shadows? If so, see if you can turn it into a 'happy' type of shadow. Maybe a flower rather than a spider. I tried with my daughter, yet she wouldn't change her thinking. We also move things so that they aren't making the scary shadow. And we used a brighter light for her nightlight - a lamp turned on very low. The crib gives her some comfort. You could also let her sleep with something that smells like you, like a t-shirt you've worn all day or to sleep in. Your scent will likely give her some comfort.

Hope you find something that will help.
L.

Maybe you could try one of those glow night light buddies. I've seen them in lots of catalogs. I think they are rechargeable and glow all night in different colors. Or, a twilight turtle. It projects stars on the ceiling in different colors. That might hide the shadows!

A., my almost 4 year old (also named Cassidy) has recently started noticing shadows. She will say, something is scary in my room, and we have to move whatever object is making the scary shadow. One thing that has recently helped is turning off the night light-when it is that dark, there are no shadows (unless there is much light coming through a window or another room.) Another thing she noticed was the shadow of the fan on the ceiling changes when we turn off her table lamp and just leave her night light on-she thought that was quite amusing and now laughs at it every night. When she was 2 she became afraid of the digital clock-that was an easy fix-just remove the clock, shadows are a little harder. I don't know if you let her wathc much TV, but my kids discovered the Bear and the Big Blue House-we got the videos from the library (he's not on TV anymore)there is a character named Shadow-shes a shadow and she tells shadow stories-you never know, it could help!

Sounds like you need a bottle of "Monsters Be Gone" juice. Take a spray bottle and fill it with water and a few drops of food color. You can spray her room before nap or bedtime to rid her space of all scary things. It usually works pretty well, although she may be a little young for the concept. It works great on 3 and 4 year olds. I hope it helps. Good luck!

The responses were all great! Mine is similiar...... Let her pick out a little flashlight. When it gets dark- go into all the bedrooms and make shadows. Let her turn the flashlight off and on to make shadows. Maybe if she has the ability to handle the flashlight well- when she goes to bed- have her shine the light on anything she thinks is a shadow. Maybe she will feel in control of her room. Get her exhausted for a few days in a row so that at bedtime she actually falls asleep fast. In the morning-praise her for sleeping good at night and being a big girl. Last but not least, I don't know if you're a christian or not, but, just praying with her at bedtime can comfort her and make her secure. Let her know God has an angel watching over her- even when she sleeps.
J.

my 2 year old also recently became afraid of shadows. We make shadow puppets on the walls to let him see that shadows are good and fun. We also talk about the fact that shadows are how we know the lights are on. Good luck.

My daughter who is almost 2.5 years old gets scared of shadows too and when she does we just remind her that they are just shadows and there is nothing to be scared of. Then we move around like our arm or something and have her do it too so that way she can see that the shadows are nothing and it makes her laugh and she just giggles and gets all comfy in her bed again and she forgets about it and goes right to sleep.
I would just try to show your daughter what shadow puppets are and try to reassure her that there is nothing to be scared of and when she gets scared to make the shadow puppets and get her to laugh and giggle. Hope that helps and good luck.

It's time to take your daughter outside and show her her friend, "her shadow". Explain in two-year old terms what a shadow is -- use leaves, trees, her, make funny postures to show her how they look. Sit with her one night in her darkened room and show her what's making the shadows on the walls -- not from the sun but from streetlights.

If you want to go a step into the scientific field, isn't there some neat paper you can make leaf prints with using the sun? You lay the leaf on the paper, put it into the sun and it "develops" it. You can use a couple of those as pictures in her room and on the fridge.

Hopefully, this will work.... sometimes Daddies forget the world is "new" to a child who hasn't had the years of experiences!

M.

Try this out. I can't guarantee it, but it's worth a shot.

Shadows are angels that are sent from God at nighttime to watch over little children and keep them safe while they are sleeping.

Good Luck,

A.