Recurring nightmares???

[Ibbygirl]

My daughter told me when she woke up this morning that she had another nightmare about our house being on fire. She had the first one a couple of weeks ago and she said that in the first dream her little brother got burned up and that in this dream she had today it was her father. She's not one to have recurring dreams so for me it was a little unsettling. Maybe I'm just being superstitious, but I don't like dreams like that, but then again who does?? hehe

 

I reassurred her that it was just a dream and that God is taking care of her and she doesn't have to worry, but I confess I had to tell myself the same thing. I have a Cuban backround and I was raised in a culture that regards certain types of dreams to be signs or omens of things that will happen in the future. I know that this is being superstitious and since becoming a Christian I try not to let those things mess with my head, but I confess I still have a knee jerk type of reaction to dreams like these.

 

Does anyone else here have a child who has recurring nightmares?? If so how did you deal with it?

 

I'm wondering, is it a common thing for kids to have recurring nightmares at a certain stage in their development?? My daughter is 11 soon to be 12 if that helps. She is a happy kid and usually never has nightmares so the fact that she is having the same one kind of freaks me out. :eek: :blink: :001_unsure:

 

Thank you to all who reply. :)

[Kim in Appalachia]

I learned to deal with them by learning to take control in my dreams. I know that may sound strange, but it did work.

 

I basically conditioned myself to say "stop" during the dream. Then I would slowly make the things in the dream change. It took some practice, but I did get it to work. If her dreams are always about fire, maybe she could try to focus on having the water needed to put it out.

 

I do believe that dreams can signify things. Those things can be our anxieties. I would encourage you to not only tell your daughter that, "God will take care of you", but take time to pray together. First have her confess her fear, acknowledge her dependence on the Lord in all situations, then pray for safety and peace. Also read Scripture together. Write out some verses that talk about the Lord being in control, or how He'll be with us.

 

I would also encourage you do have a fire safety talk with the family. Maybe have everyone do a fire drill. Not only is that a good thing to practice, but it can help you dd feel like she has some power over the situation.

[Ibbygirl]

I learned to deal with them by learning to take control in my dreams. I know that may sound strange, but it did work.

 

I basically conditioned myself to say "stop" during the dream. Then I would slowly make the things in the dream change. It took some practice, but I did get it to work. If her dreams are always about fire, maybe she could try to focus on having the water needed to put it out.

 

I do believe that dreams can signify things. Those things can be our anxieties. I would encourage you to not only tell your daughter that, "God will take care of you", but take time to pray together. First have her confess her fear, acknowledge her dependence on the Lord in all situations, then pray for safety and peace. Also read Scripture together. Write out some verses that talk about the Lord being in control, or how He'll be with us.

 

I would also encourage you do have a fire safety talk with the family. Maybe have everyone do a fire drill. Not only is that a good thing to practice, but it can help you dd feel like she has some power over the situation.

 

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I was thinking the same thing about fire drills. We already have a family plan in place for fires, but I haven't done a drill in a long time. Oddly enough when she tells me about her dreams, she's not scared. She just kind of tells me in a matter-of-fact way and then I'm the one who gets freaked out. hehe

 

The rational side of me wants to look at it like, "oh, she must be feeling some strong emotions. Maybe she is feeling like she is trapped or as if her life is out of control. I need to get her to talk about how she is feeling." While the Cuban in me wants to run away screaming, "ahhhh we're all going to die!!" hehehehe

 

I did lay hands on her and pray over her and she seemed fine after that, but I was the one left with a disquiet spirit. I wonder if God could be using my daughter as a way to speak to me?? Maybe using her dream to reveal to me that I still have some baggage that is not completely on His throne?? I don't know, but I think your idea of writing Scripture is an excellent one. I know I always have to constantly remind myself that God loves me and has forgiven me for all of my sins. The enemy sure likes to remind me of what I was before coming to the Lord. I think I need to overcome that evil with some good.

 

Another thing I was thinking is that this is a time of alot of uncertainty in our family. My husband, who is the sole provider, quite possibly might lose his job to lay offs in the next couple of months. This has led to conversations between he and I of the possibility of moving entirely out of Florida and starting somewhere new altogether. Although he and I haven't discussed this in front of my daughter, the kid's got dog ears or something and hears everything anyway and so she started asking questions about it and asking when we're moving. I told her that we are praying about it and that she can pray too and ask God to show us what to do and where He wants us to go. I told her that we're not going to make any type of move without God clearly speaking to us first, but this kid is already talking about the pets she wants to get when she gets to her new house! hehehe She says she's sick of Florida and wants to go somewhere where it's not so hot and that she can play in snow in the winter. Ironically, the dreams started right around this same time that she first found out that my husband might lose his job. It seems like it's connected to me, because she really rarely has a nightmare, and to have two of the same dreams in two weeks seems suspect. :rolleyes: hmmm.

[elegantlion]

I learned to deal with them by learning to take control in my dreams. I know that may sound strange, but it did work.

 

I basically conditioned myself to say "stop" during the dream. Then I would slowly make the things in the dream change. It took some practice, but I did get it to work. If her dreams are always about fire, maybe she could try to focus on having the water needed to put it out.

 

I do believe that dreams can signify things. Those things can be our anxieties. I would encourage you to not only tell your daughter that, "God will take care of you", but take time to pray together. First have her confess her fear, acknowledge her dependence on the Lord in all situations, then pray for safety and peace. Also read Scripture together. Write out some verses that talk about the Lord being in control, or how He'll be with us.

 

I would also encourage you do have a fire safety talk with the family. Maybe have everyone do a fire drill. Not only is that a good thing to practice, but it can help you dd feel like she has some power over the situation.

 

 

:iagree: I use the same technique for my recurring dreams. I would encourage her to journal her feelings during this time.

[Kim in Appalachia]

 

The rational side of me wants to look at it like, "oh, she must be feeling some strong emotions. Maybe she is feeling like she is trapped or as if her life is out of control. I need to get her to talk about how she is feeling." While the Cuban in me wants to run away screaming, "ahhhh we're all going to die!!" hehehehe

 

 

 

 

I'm not Cuban, but that would probably be me too. :tongue_smilie: I would need to write out the Scriptures, and pray just as much is not more than my child would.

 

Now that you mentioned the possible job loss and move, I would assume it's related. While your dd seems positive on the outside, she may still be afraid and feel like she losing control. No matter how we try to keep things from kids they seem to find out. I think it's better to just be open and share what's going on. For some reason adults keeping something secret make it seem scarier.

[3lilreds in NC]

I used to have dreams like that as a child. It usually involved my dad dying. Often it involved water.

 

I still have lots of anxiety dreams. That's what I think it is - her fears coming out in her dreams. Learning to take control of your dreams is a good idea. I will say though that when I tried to do that with one of my "can't find my locker, can't remember the combination, can't find my class" dreams, and actually wrote down the combo, my dream took itself to the next level and I either couldn't find my locker or my schedule or something... it was pretty funny when I woke up and realized how determinedly anxious I was. ;) All that to say it can take a little practice.

 

If you're feeling unsettled, definitely keep yourself in prayer and in the Word. :grouphug:

[hillfarm]

Several years ago I did some research regarding dreams due to some recurring dreams I had experienced since childhood. Most of what I found that actually made sense to me is that very few dreams are actually prophetic nor do I go for the idea of standardized symbol correlation. (For example, although some dream books say tiger images equal oppression, IMO dreaming about a tiger might mean one thing if you live in an American city, another if you live in a village in India, and another if you work for a wildlife conservation organization or a circus.)

 

Since I was able to "interpret" my commonly recurring dreams, they don't scare me anymore. I have the tornado one that is my way of working out feeling out of control. I have the old boyfriend one that seems to represent a feeling of uncertainty toward others. I have the flying one that comes when I feel that I am struggling in a no-win situation. One that used to scare me to pieces involved an actual confrontation with Satan. I have come to believe that it means that I feel that I am facing life and death choices.

 

Once I accepted that my dreams were a symbol language that my mind uses to work through thngs when I am asleep, I felt much more at peace about them. You might ask your dd what she thinks the dream means the next time she has it. I would guess she might be anxious about loss and that fire situation represents great loss to her. You might try talking to her about the opportunities that you all will be experiencing as part of the changes coming in your lives and see if that affects the frequency or intensity of her dream.

 

And it wouldn't hurt to check all your smoke detectors and fire extinguishers;).

[Ibbygirl]

Now that you mentioned the possible job loss and move, I would assume it's related. While your dd seems positive on the outside, she may still be afraid and feel like she losing control. No matter how we try to keep things from kids they seem to find out. I think it's better to just be open and share what's going on. For some reason adults keeping something secret make it seem scarier.

 

 

Thanks you for this. Once I found out that she heard us talking I have been open with her about it. I'm sure you're right that it is related to the job loss that is likely to come. Control is a major issue with her and she always needs alot of structure and needs to know what is coming next. I'm sure it is the uncertainty making its way into her dreams.

[Ibbygirl]

I used to have dreams like that as a child. It usually involved my dad dying. Often it involved water.

 

I still have lots of anxiety dreams. That's what I think it is - her fears coming out in her dreams. Learning to take control of your dreams is a good idea. I will say though that when I tried to do that with one of my "can't find my locker, can't remember the combination, can't find my class" dreams, and actually wrote down the combo, my dream took itself to the next level and I either couldn't find my locker or my schedule or something... it was pretty funny when I woke up and realized how determinedly anxious I was. ;) All that to say it can take a little practice.

 

If you're feeling unsettled, definitely keep yourself in prayer and in the Word. :grouphug:

 

Thank you. Now that you mention your dreams I remember that I used to have alot of recurring dreams when I was a kid too. I still do occasionally, that is if I sleep long enough to actually have a dream. :tongue_smilie: hehe I wonder if it is something that everyone has at certain points in their lives or if it is something that only affects certain people?

[Ibbygirl]

Several years ago I did some research regarding dreams due to some recurring dreams I had experienced since childhood. Most of what I found that actually made sense to me is that very few dreams are actually prophetic nor do I go for the idea of standardized symbol correlation. (For example, although some dream books say tiger images equal oppression, IMO dreaming about a tiger might mean one thing if you live in an American city, another if you live in a village in India, and another if you work for a wildlife conservation organization or a circus.)

 

Since I was able to "interpret" my commonly recurring dreams, they don't scare me anymore. I have the tornado one that is my way of working out feeling out of control. I have the old boyfriend one that seems to represent a feeling of uncertainty toward others. I have the flying one that comes when I feel that I am struggling in a no-win situation. One that used to scare me to pieces involved an actual confrontation with Satan. I have come to believe that it means that I feel that I am facing life and death choices.

 

Once I accepted that my dreams were a symbol language that my mind uses to work through thngs when I am asleep, I felt much more at peace about them. You might ask your dd what she thinks the dream means the next time she has it. I would guess she might be anxious about loss and that fire situation represents great loss to her. You might try talking to her about the opportunities that you all will be experiencing as part of the changes coming in your lives and see if that affects the frequency or intensity of her dream.

 

And it wouldn't hurt to check all your smoke detectors and fire extinguishers;).

 

 

:) I did check the smoke detectors last night actually. :) Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. I used to have some recurring dreams too, like driving a car that is out of control and speeding and I cannot get it to stay on the road and stuff like that. I took it to mean that I was feeling like I was out of control in my life. But certain dreams, like teeth falling out, those dreams really scare me. In Cuban culture, a dream where you lose your teeth means that someone close to you is going to die. When I have those dreams that is where I get over into the realm of irrational superstitious type freaking out. The thing is, that everytime I've ever had a dream about my teeth falling out, someone in my family HAS died. That is what scares me. :eek: