My son won't sleep in his room~the reason he says there is a ghost that pinched him~how do I solve this?

Question

My son is 4 1/2 years old. His father and I are seperated. He was sleeping in his room for awhile but he went to visit his father and when he came back he wouldn't sleep in his room. I have also tried letting him fall asleep in my bed and then moving him but he always ends up back in my bed.

Answer 1

First...get him a night light if he doesn't have one. Consider giving him a flashlight to sleep with. (They make some for kids that automatically turn off after a few minutes.)

Second...get the book "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberly. Read that to him. Tell him he can tell the ghosts to "go away!" if they are bothering him.

Third...does he have a stuffed animal he likes to sleep with? Stuffed dogs are really good when they are scared like this because you can tell him that the dog will protect him. If you have a REAL pet, have the pet come in his room and "sniff around for ghosts" before bed.

Fourth...Get a spray bottle and put some water in it. You could also put a little something in it to make it smell, like lavendar oil. He can spray that around the room with your help to keep ghosts and monsters away.

Answer 2

This could be one of several things. A child's good imagination, or your son is gifted in seeing things most of us can't. Children can sometimes naturally see spirits. It can be very nerve racking for them. I know because I was the same way.

What you can do is to help ease his fears. IF it is a spirit, there is a simple thing you can do. This may help your son psycologically and self esteme wise even if there isn't a spirit. It helps him get control over a usually uncontroled situation. You can even let your son participate, and reassure him that after this the ghosts can't come into the room.

Just get some incense, any scent will do, but I usually like sweetgrass or sage. Before you begin, open up a window in the last room you'll be in. Just light the incense, in a safe dish, you hold it while it smokes. Walk around the room letting the smoke go into each corner. Let your son tell the ghost to get out and leave him alone. Say it firmly, but never be rude to a spirit. When you get to the last room that should chase the spirit out the window you left open. Just let the smoke go to each corner. After that you can shut the window and put out the incense.

Another thing that can be done along with this is make a "monster be gone" kit. You'll just need a marker or crayon, some room freshener that your son doesn't know is room freshener, and some paper or cardboard. Just let him know that this is special "monster go away" spray. You can even let him spray it, with supervision. This will boost his self esteme and sense of control over the situation. Then tell him that monsters have a rule, if you have a sign on your door or in your room that they are not allowed there, then they have to obey the sign. Let him make a sign, with your help, then you two can put it up somewhere that he thinks would be a good place.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

My best friend's daughter and son shared a room at this age and they both thought there was a ghost (they had seen the cat's tail waving around one night and were terrified!). She had tried the nightlight, tried scaring it away for them, nothing worked.

I told her to have THEM help her scare the thing away. They got in a circle, like ring around the rosie, and sang ghost, ghost, go away. Then they got a bunch of old rattles and shook them till all over and yelled until they felt the ghost was gone. When they went to bed that night they took the rattles with them. If the ghost was there, they would shake the rattle to scare it off.

Mom did hear the rattles for a few nights, but they felt like they had some control and the ghost was afriad of THEM. You could give it a shot, in addition to a night light.

Answer 4

Try empowering him to "lose" the ghost. I had a similar problem except it was "Lions" in the room. I gave my child a harmonica and told her it will scare the Lions away. For a couple of weeks about 15 minutes after going to bed I'd hear the harmonica and a little while after that she'd gone to sleep. After a few weeks - all the Lions had gone! The trick would be to find a mechanism that works for your child, maybe a whistle or something. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

My son-now 8 had same problem but his "imp" would move around the room and keep him awake. A night light only made him "see" more things, the TV did not allow him good sleep, stuffed animals, laying with him until he feel asleep, etc. nothing seemed to help until my girlfriend who works at our local ACC said to get him a pet to sleep with and protect him. We took him to pick out a kitten who is now a HUGE black and white cat and his best buddy. As soon as the kitten started sleeping with him he forgot all about the "imp" in his room and he has also learned the responsiblilites that go along with having a pet. We explained the cat would protect him-he seemed to buy it and I have not heard a word in almost 4 yrs. about anything in his room. Don't know if this is possible for you but what worked for me. Good luck and my prayers are with you-by the way-he named the cat nibbles because he likes to nibble on his ears at night!

Answer 6

As harmless as him sleeping with you right now is, you're gonna have to put an end to that. I myself have a 5 year old nephew and I gotta tell you, he ask a lot of questions. It is just a kid thing, BUT at his age he is quickly getting just a tad close to being too old to sleep with you mom. As far as the ghost thing, talk with him. When did this ghost appear. Why only after he came back from dad's. Maybe and this is just a maybe, his father put him up to it to insure you don't have anyone else sleeping with you. Again this is just a maybe. I mean this ghost came from somewhere, right?

Answer 7

I know as adults we may not believe this, but children have minds that have not been closed by cynicism. There may have actually been a spirit that pinched him. Ask questions about the ghost. It may be real and it may be false. Take an interest. Make sure you don't come off scared. You can also tell your son that there is nothing to worry about. Find his favorite stuffed animal and tell him that the animal with keep him safe.

Answer 8

From my personal experience after my parents broke up i rememberd seeing a giraff in my closset and i could never stay in my room.

Since then i learned it was a mixture of fear of missing my dad and the fear of also loosing my mum which had brought on this appearance.

So in short i belive if you were to reassure son of your pressence and teach him how to use a dream safe spot then he should be able to sleep in his room again.

A dream safe spot is a room you have him imagine where he knows it is allways safe you can have him add furntiure to make it feel more succuer. so whenever he is scared in a dream he will allways be able to think back to the safe room.

You might think this is a bit beyond him but trust me he will be able to understand enough at this point to be able to use it till he is a bit older to be able to work things out for himself.

i hope this is usefull

Cheers
Michael

Answer 9

Close & board the room & never speak of it again.
Just kidding.

Actually I heard of a woman selling a ghost on ebay that her son was afraid of. She packed it up & everything. But I don't think that's very healthy for the kid.

Just give him more attention & love during the daytime. I'm sure that's all he really needs.

Answer 10

Use a nightlight. Read him a story before he goes to bed. These kinds of dreams are common for children his age.

Now, if you are trying to find reasons to keep your son from going to his father's house, then you will be the one victimizing your child----not your Ex.