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In the drawing room, Ben tells Naomi that Barnabas is under a curse, like a sleeping sickness, and that he must remain in the coffin until the curse is lifted. He tells her that Mr. Collins went to Boston to find help to get rid of the curse. He also tells her that Angelique was the witch. “Look here, Papa,” said Wedemir, “I'm getting tired of all these dark hints and frowns. “That time I was ill—” He tried to stop himself but the words flooded out like an. That boy across the room—he had killed his own men, and would again.
![Get Get](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126347405/219105812.jpg)
Inside you’ll find an awesome trick to help your toddler afraid of the dark.Pitch black.Until my kids were around 18 months old they all went to sleep in pitch black and didn’t make a peep. So naturally, I thought I had this motherhood gig figured out.Pfft to those people whose kids were scared of the dark. They clearly were doing something wrong and I was doing something right.Night after night I laid the kids down in pitch darkness after our, and off they went to dreamland.It didn’t occur to me that fear of darkness was actually developmental. That no matter what I’d done in those first two years that the little ones would eventually go through a phase where they were afraid of the dark.So when my son started saying he was afraid of the dark I initially just thought he was stalling bedtime. You know when they want water and a kiss and a cuddle and 12 hours of Deep and Meaningful conversation right as you are about to kiss them good night and go.But when, night after night, he kept saying he was afraid of the dark I realized he wasn’t stalling. He was actually afraid.
So I bought him a nightlight and put it in a prominent plug in the room.Voila!Problem solved, I thought.Read:But that night light didn’t do jack.I would say over and over again, “ What do you mean it’s dark? There’s a night light!” This didn’t seem to matter. It made no difference.
He still went on and on about being afraid.The truth is, I didn’t want to sit there and use fake spray at the monsters for 3 hours, but nor did I want to leave him to deal with fear alone.And then it hit me the reason the fear set in.It wasn’t that the night light didn’t make any light. And it wasn’t that the room was too dark it was the transition from light to dark that made him start feeling fear.Read: The Reason Night Lights Alone Don’t WorkAt some point during the bedtime routine, after getting on jammies and reading books, we had to turn the light off. And, when we turned the light off, the transition from light to dark seemed so drastic.It turns out, according to science, that the eyes actually go blind for a few seconds immediately after the lights go out. This is called dark adaptation. Dark adaptation is how the eye recovers its sensitivity following exposure to bright light.And in those few seconds while the eyes are adjusting, the fear sets in.
And once the fear has set in, that night light doesn’t really do much to ease the fear. You don’t want to get rid of it entirely, but there’s another element.Read:The Trick to Help Toddlers Afraid of the DarkOne night like the many other nights I was trying to convince said 3 year old his room would not be dark because he had a night light an idea came to me.In a flash, I told him that I had a 10 second trick to help the room not feel as dark. He was already lying on his bed so I told him to close his eyes.As soon as he closed them I flicked off the light then walked to him.I put my hands over his eyes and said, “Okay, let’s count to ten!”One Mississippi two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five Mississippi, six Mississippi, seven Mississippi, eight Mississippi, nine Mississippi, ten Mississippi!“Open your eyes,” I said excitedly. “ Look!”He did.“Wow,” he said, “It’s not so dark!”Without knowing it at the time, I’d helped him go through the dark adaptation.
In contrast to the pitch black of shut eyes, the night light seemed quite bright in a dark room. He went to bed afterwards without being afraid.Read: How To Make It HappenThe key is helping your child’s eyes go through the dark adaptation without their fear setting in. Once fear sets in, it’s hard to remove. You know that feeling, right?
Worrying about something as soon as your head hits the pillow and you can’t get it out of your mind?Well, by asking your child to close their eyes, they’re making a choice.Then you are there with them counting to ten, helping their eyes get accustomed to darkness, still their own choice. After you’ve given their eyes time to adjust to the pitch black, you remove your hands and let them open their eyes.At this point, a darkened room with a night light seems cozy, not scary.I believe it was a combination.I helped him understand why it seemed so dark. I made it a nightly tradition. And I didn’t make him feel bad for being scared.Even now, months later, I use it on any child that feels nervous at bedtime and it works every time.Like a charm.Or a trick.A trick of the eye.:. I just wanted to say thank you for your easy peasy routine for 2 year olds!
I day-weaned my 2 year old a month ago and have been trying everything to get him to go down for a nap without the nursing. Nothing was working and I was starting to think he would never have a nap again.Anyways I started following your routine and we just sat in bed and had what I told him was “quiet time.” We sat and read and made a fort and had warm milk.
Then today I told him it was quiet time again and he tried to escape the bed a couple times, but in the end he snuggled up after the warm bottle and fell asleep for 3 hours! I was almost in tears I was so excited! So thank you! I just wanted to let you know that your blog and emails have been a tremendous help to me. Your practical, honest, and humble writing is a breath of fresh air!With help and encouragement drawn from your writing, I have made some incredible changes in the order (and sanity) of our home, in just the past few weeks.
My kids are doing chores daily, and I also have clearer expectations of myself.My husband is in awe!Which helps reinforce what you said- the problem wasn’t me; it was my systems. Our home is in much better order, and so is my mind. So, thank you!!!!
You have made a difference for me and my family. I tumbled into post partum depression/anxiety and didn’t know what to do anymore. I was a mess, baby girl was a mess and I don’t even know how my husband was dealing with it allI googled everything I could think about but there was never really something that felt right, that felt genuine instead of just telling do’s and don’ts.And then I found your website and read your pieces about sleeping and eating. I carefully read through your schedules and decided to try it.IT WORKED!!And within a week or two our little girl changed from a frustrated baby into this happy dappy smiling ray of sunshine, that is able to settle herself down by sucking on her fists, even in the middle of the night. At 12 weeks baby girl slept through the night and now at 20 weeks old she sleeps a good 10 to 12 hours every night.I just wanted to thank you for sharing your experience online. The way you wrote your experiences made it understandable, seeing it from the babys side but also the moms side.
Maybe we were lucky that your way fitted our baby, but it worked and I tell it to everyone that wants to know!
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