Eight Year Old - Sleep Issues - PLEASE HELP ME!

Be upfront with her, let her know that you have never seen something like this. Tell her to make up good stories in her mind about the haunted cat, how it might help her, make it into a good thing in her mind.
Also a dream catcher is a great tool, these will 'catch' the bad dreams and keep her from having them (the mind is a wonderful thing). I had my son convinced that he wouldn't sleep well if he didn't get a kiss from mom each night (he was resisting and I didn't want to give it up yet) he would remind me after that if I wasn't in there soon enough!

try playing some calming music and see if that helps

Check out familysleep.com
Also, Marc Weissbluth's book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. He addresses a wide range of sleep issues, and I have found it very helpful with my two boys. Good luck!

It is time to release the demons! Start by drawing some pitures to scare the "baddy" out of the room and house-draw both and yard to and for thqt matter all of town! then place these pictures in her room-where ever she wants them is good. Now talk about the differences between real and not real and yes it seemed real on the movie and it is hard because the daily news is real and quite often just as scary-but in this case it was not a real scary thing and sometimes just saying that and reminding her it was not real will help-now when she wakes up-make sure she has a little girl size flash-light to keep with her. Tell her to turn it on for a small time to look around her room and make sure the "baddy" left (remind her the baddy saw the pictures) then she should turn the flashlight off to relax her mind again and think some pleasant thoughts (you can help her decide them before bed or read a sweet book) then she can think about the good stuff and off to good dreams again! Yes it is a process but with a little time this really does work-you may need to remind her for several times and make sure you have lots of good bedtime stories. Don't be surprized if she wants to leave the flashlight on all night-that is your call and many batteries later--or if you don't have you might want to consider a night-light-but thqt will go on much longer-if you don't care it really does not hurt anything to have a nightlight or not. In fact if there is one in the room then you might not trip over toys when she calls in the middle of the night. Whatever you do always talk honestly or that will come back to haunt you for many years. Kids really understand better than we often give them credit. Halloween is only 10 months away so you have some time to work on it.

If it's something from a movie that is upsetting her, it will be hard to help her 'get it out of her mind.' Have you thought about ways you could try to convince her to get the cat out of her mind?

If she wakes up and is scared, can you tell her she can turn her lamp or light on and sleep that way? Does she have a flash light or night light that would help in that situation?

What about having her make a dream catcher so that it will take all her bad dreams/thoughts away? You could create it together and hang it over her bed. Tell her if she wakes up to look at the dream catcher and put all her bad thoughts onto it.

What about worry dolls? Not sure they still have them but something along the lines of a doll or small dolls that you can tell all your worries to and then you have to 'let them go'.

What about telling her she can come into your room but has to sleep on the floor? I've heard this is a good way to get kids to go back into their own rooms.

What was the show? Maybe talk to her in depth about why she is scared and how a haunted cat is not reality.

I would not leave her alone. She is scared and needs comforting. Even if this means letting her sleep with you (or sleeping with her) for the time being. it will pass eventually and you don't want her looking back and remembering the hard time without the support of her parents.

I feel your pain! Have you tried giving her "monster spray" or in her case, cat ghost spray? Give her a spray bottle of something to spray where ever she thinks the ghosts are before bed. This gives her back some control of things and allows her to get rid of the 'ghosts' on her own (not to mention encourages her to sleep in her own room!). One of my aunts used this on my cousin with great success, and it worked for one of our kids as well.

Hope it helps!

Maybe you should discuss the facts about real and not real. My husband and I had to do this with our step children after their Uncle let them watch Harry Potter. We would make up games so they understood what was real and what wasn't real. Another thing that might work is to let her sleep with a stuffed dog because dogs don't like cats. You could tell her that the dog will keep the haunted cat away from her. Time will also help her out and night lights. I wouldn't suggest leaving her scared because that will only makes things worse for her and you.

I agree that you need to talk about the difference between real and imaginary. I talk to my three boys all the time about what is real and what is only on tv or in their imagination. Also, do you have any pets? When my boys insist that they are scared of baddies in their room I remind them that our dog patrols the house while they sleep and would never let any baddies in.

I went through this when my son was 8. I completely know how you are feeling. One thing that help us was talking about how to defeat it. My son had nightmares about his fear and eventually he had a dream where he defeat the monster.

Good Luck,
E.

MY daughter is 9 and will get herself worked up rather easily. I will fix her a cup of warm cocoa and read her a pleasant bedtime story, remind her that what she is afraid of isn't real, reassure her if she does have a bad dream I am right down the hall, we leave the bathroom light on and she wants her closet light on and the best thing I think is we talk about thinking pleasant thoughts and I give her "dream ideas"
It is usually a short lived phase = ) Lots of luck
B.

a spray bottle of air freshener or just lightly-scented water .....let her use it to ward off her fears by making it a game.

I also agree with the other posters....time for a serious discussion about real vs. imaginary! Let her write (or dictate to you) a story about the differences, draw pictures to illustrate her thoughts, & let her fight out against this demon! It will end up being a book that the two of you will treasure.

Mine pretty much says what the others say: Talk about the difference between imaginary and real. Give her the power to scare the cat away. Have a conversation about what the cat would be scared of. Then go about creating that so when she wakes up in the middle of night, she can use whatever she created. Good luck and remember her fears may seem silly to us, but they are very real to her!