4-Yr Old Who Refuses to Sleep in Room

When my daughter was about that age she became deathly afraid of spiders. If she saw a spider in the car she wouldn't sit in that seat any more. If she saw a spider in her bed, she wouldn't go near her bed. An insecticide would have been unhealthy for her, so I decided to go with the placebo effect and used an air freshener. She was convinced that this spray was protecting her from spiders, and even if she saw a spider, was willing to use extra spray to protect herself. The extreme phase lasted about a year. She's still hates spiders but doesn't let it rule her universe.

What was his dream about? He seems scared so you need to take away the monsters. Try monster spray aka air freshener and spray so the bad things can't come in at night. Do a monster search before bed. Look in the closet, under the bed anywhere they might hide. Give him a flash light so he can turn it on if he gets scared. A night light might help too.

This is a tough one since it has been going on for so long... but I think she may just need to put her foot down and tell him that starting tonight, he will be sleeping in his bed. Put him to bed in his bed, and if he gets up, walk him back to his bed. Repeat as necessary. I can only imagine this may take a while for this child to get used to since he's been sleeping on the couch for a year. But it doesn't really seem like a workable situation as-is, so she's just got to bite the bullet and do it. I mean, we've all been through cry-it-out with babies... I can't imagine it will be fun with a 4 year old, but it is what it is. I wish her the best of luck on this one!!

I read about this idea somewhere: Get a can of air deodorizer and say it's bad dream remover spray. Go in there and spray the room, then leave the can in there so he can spray, too, if he wants.

Other ideas that might help include letting him fall asleep with the light on (we do this with our son and just turn it down when we go to bed) or a radio on.

I had my son help decorate his room. He wanted the Incredibles(that was hard to find...thank you eBay!). Since it was a superhero, I was able to say that Mr.Incredible was there to watch over him while he was sleeping and keep him safe. He also has an Incredibles fleece blanket which I said protected him from anything scary. We just did some posters, movie prints, a blanket, for about $100. You can shave a lot of that off if you dont frame the posters. That is where the bulk of the money went. I hope this helps. OR...If the couch makes him feel safe, can the couch, or another couch fit in his bedroom? I bought a great IKEA one at a garage sale this weekend for $25! I am sure craigslist has some, as well.

I saw this on SuperNanny. She has a technique. You show the child their nice cozy bed and tell them this is where you are going to sleep. So you get him ready for bed, bath & pj's. Read him a book or two and then say good night hugs and kisses. Then you walk out and close the door. When the child gets up you say to them "Sam" it's time for bed and you are sleeping in your bed. and then you put them back in bed. If they get up again you say nothing, and just put them back in bed. If they keep getting up you say nothing and just keep putting them back in bed. They might yell and cry but if you just follow the technique it really works. If you give in say after 10min. of crying or whatever then they know your breaking point is 10min. so if then the next night they are crying again they know that 10min was your breaking point so they will be prepared to cry for 15 or 20min. Because by giving in they know they have control. If it's that he's scared of monsters then get a spray bottle and decorate it and let him spray it around his room, call it monster repellant or some silly fun name. Hope this helps.

He needs to know what to do with his bad dreams. His mom needs to make a decision and tell him its time for him to sleep in his bed and then pray with him! Pray over him before nap (to get him ready), then again when she puts him down for his nap. Explain to him that he should pray if a bad dream tries to come. (There is a very good veggie tales movie called "Where is God when I'm scared?" that explains God's protection)
Don't give in and let him sleep on the couch! He has to sleep in his bed. Any time he has a bad dream or thought in his bed, pray with him and have him cast it out in Jesus' name! Give him the power and the fear flees.

Hi J.. My son who is 3 1/2 just starting sleeping in his room after about 1 1/2yrs. I've always heard that if you redecorate the kids room they're more likely to like it more. We made him a big boy dinosaur room and now he sleeps in there every night!!! Good luck!

If he is sharing a room she needs to take him to the store to pick his own comforter to make his space his own and maybe put on some soft music for him. She can show him that there is nothing scary in the clost or under the bed and that mommie and Jesus are always watching over him.