Has your child been suffering bad dreams lately? Do they seem unusually fearful or seem to have new kinds of phobias?
It could be that their buried feelings are surfacing in what seems to be a disturbed or distorted way. If your child is too worried to voice their anger or emote their sadness, then these feelings manifest themselves in an unusual fashion. The same applies to any unresolved worries they may have. They can only be buried or hidden for so long until they manifest themselves in weird and wonderful ways in our dreams at night.
So how do you explain this to your scared and bewildered child? Just reassure them that this is common. Explain how we all have a usual amount of feelings and worries and this can look rather like a balloon filled with some water. When the balloon is too full and a child is trying to hide their feelings, it will start to look like a balloon full of water that is squashed. The child is trying to mask and hide their balloon (themselves) and the water (lots of mixed up feelings) from others. Like all squashed balloons full of water, you get ‘squidgy’ and odd looking bits poking through your fingers because of too much squashing. These bits are nightmares and phobias and too much stifling and hiding. Feelings need to come out in a way that feels safe. Perhaps examining these nightmares or phobias with a professional, may help you to understand them so you can pacify your children.
