GP reveals meaning behind eight most common nightmares for kids
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Don’t let the bed bugs bite! Child therapist and GP reveal the meaning behind your child’s most common nightmares – including how movies like ‘Toy Story’ can manifest as scary dreams
- Two medical experts have revealed the eight most common nightmares in children
- Child therapist Kmei Omijeh and GP Dr Hana Patel suggested what they mean
- From seeing monsters to drowning, here’s what childhood dreams can mean
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Nightmares are common in many children, and while parents try to convince their children that there is nothing to fear, experts reveal that dreams are often a sign of real-life stressful factors that play out in the subconscious mind of the child. child.
Child therapist Kmei Omijeh and mental health coach and GP Dr Hana Patel have explained the eight most common nightmares in children.
From fearing monsters to feeling haunted, the experts say each terror suggests a deeper meaning.
Many suggest emotional stress and a feeling of being overwhelmed, while others may indicate anxiety and a fear that they are not in control of their lives.
Here, FEMAIL explains what each type of nightmare means to your kids…
Mental health coach and family physician Dr. Hana Patel (pictured) spoke to FEMAIL about the eight most common nightmares in children
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To dream about monsters usually suggests that you are facing mental and emotional stress in your waking life.
In children, this could be related to something that happened that day, perhaps contradicted by an adult such as their teacher, turning that person into a “monster” in their dreams.
Drown or fall
Drowning or falling in a dream can mean that you are feeling overwhelmed or can even represent control problems.
Falling is a common nightmare for children as they feel like they have no control in real life and don’t know what to do or say or behave in say a situation.
Getting lost or losing something important
These kinds of dreams can also occur when children get lost in real life.
It usually suggests that you are afraid of something, in children this can be related to separation anxiety, especially if the child is going to a different school stage/leaving.
being chased
If a person or animal is chasing you in a dream, it could indicate that you are afraid of something, or that you are experiencing increased or persistent stress.
Children also tend to read stories that involve animals and it is common to have a nightmare about being chased by animals or that an animal represents the “villain” in the dream.
If they are going through a stressful period in their lives, such as a new sibling, difficulty with homework, or a new school they are trying to “run away from.”
Feeling locked up
To dream that you are feeling trapped suggests that you are trapped in a difficult, restrictive or even dangerous situation.
Natural Disasters
This type of nightmare usually suggests that you are nervous about a major change related to feelings of security, or the plans, goals, and hopes you had for the near future.
Common nightmares in children include not having friends, having their teeth falling out, or encountering monsters (file image)
Public humiliation or not having friends
If you have no friends in a dream or are experiencing a nightmare about public humiliation, it could mean that you are being exposed as ill-prepared, incompetent, or shameless.
If children are afraid of losing a friend, or have no friends in real life, this can be turned into nightmares because the child is afraid of what the situation could be like.
Teeth fall out or toys come to life
These kinds of nightmares may indicate that you are losing control of your body, or that you are worried about losing something or someone important to you.
The toys that come to life come from certain movies, such as the “Toy Story” series.
If children have seen this type of movie several times, it can ‘replay’ itself during their dreams and it is a frightening dream.