Ever since Havoc was a toddler we have been doing various things to combat fear of the dark, fear of monsters, and bad dreams at bedtime.
The monsters thing was fairly easy.
Monsters are afraid of cats you see.
And we have plenty of cats. Including Nefertiti.
Nefertiti is anti social. She hisses at everything. She doesn’t like people or dogs or other cats. She HATES monsters. The boys were scared of Nefer so it’s easy for them to believe monsters are as well.
Now they are dubious about the existence of monsters.
The problem with the dark was solved by a short string of holiday lights hung along the ceiling. Replaced ever 4 months as the bulbs burn out.
Sometimes you can find me in Wal Mart in June lamenting the lack of availability of holiday lights.
The bad dreams though, they took some work. We tried a number of things I can no longer recall before settling on “Good Dreams Spray”.
Someone had suggested Monster Spray when we were first having monster problems but the suggestion involved letting the boys have a spray bottle by their bed all night long & that’s not an option.
But it did lead to the Good Dreams Spray.
GDS is a one time spray, used at bedtime to encourage good dreams.
It’s actually some hippy dippy natural, healthful non aerosol essential oil room spray that comes in assorted scents to promote different ‘environments’. I got it at Whole Foods in 2002, used it a few times as a room spray, found it wasn’t much for lingering scent-wise & stuck it in the closet where household products go to die. (aka the bathroom closet)
I recalled it, about a year or so later, when I was trying to think of something to use for the GDS.
It’s lavender scented & supposed to ‘encourage positive relaxation’
Positive relaxation?
As in “You will absolutely positively be relaxed” or as in “Relaxed with good thoughts”
It made me tense, seeing as the scent faded in 5 minutes & I like lingering ones.
But as sympathetic magic spell it kicked ass.
A couple of pumps over the beds & the boys went to sleep happy & had no bad dreams
And it was good.
For 7 years.
One can of room spray lasted 7 years!
I certainly can’t claim I didn’t get value for my dollar.
But now it’s almost empty and I can’t find it anywhere, so now I have to find something else lavender scented to use.
Because we still get regular requests for GDS at bedtime, usually a few times a month.
Really, I thought they’d’ve outgrown it by now.
I’m thinking of getting some little lavender pillows instead.
Or maybe make some sachets to stick in their pillowcases.
Good Dreams Pillows
What do you use to chase away the bad dreams?
