6yr old daughter thinks of bad things before going to bed then its hard for her to fall sleep on her own why??

It sounds like she's basically afraid to sleep on her own...which is why she's thinking of all these scary things to start with. (What if all the things she's afraid of come true...)

I agree with talking about all the positive things...unicorns and such.

Does she have a night light? That might help. Or maybe reminding her that you're just on the other side of that wall...and you won't let anything bad happen.

Also, with my daughter, I "take her bad dreams away." I do this whole elaborate thing...she closes her eyes, I pinch her eyelids softly and whisper that I'm taking all the bad stuff away...then I pretend to put it all in my left hand. After that I trail my other hands fingers across her face, tickling lightly and end up on her eyelids while I whisper, "Good dreams, love, happiness, giggles, cupcakes and hugs and kisses." I've told her it will give her good dreams...like a spell. Then I tell her I'm going to go throw the bad dreams in the garbage. (She'll be 5 in October...so there is a bit of an age difference.) The soft tickling makes her smile and the love leaves her feeling warm and fuzzy.

Good luck and take good care! :)

If you are honest with yourself I am sure that there are nights when you go to bed with negative thoughts in your head and you lay there and stare at the ceiling hoping to fall asleep. We all do this, sometimes it's from stress, but mainly we just let our minds get away on us. Before bed you need to establish a routine with her every evening that is positive. If she likes you to read to her then read a good book to her, say prayers and go to sleep. Maybe sing her a song, that is very relaxing for little ones to hear there mom's voices and it will stick with her while she goes to sleep.

At this point she has gotten herself into a "negative" routine and you need to break it; once it's broken and you get her thinking patterns "re-trained" you will notice a difference in her bed times. Also, you need to make sure that she is not watching scary things on television/movies/hearing bad things from kids at school or day care/day camp and so on. You definitely might want to (during the day) ask her where she is getting the bad thoughts from or what makes her think of those bad thoughts and then that will help you understand her a little more too.

Good luck and it will be okay!

what kind of bad things does she think of. Is she at a day care during the day? Has anything odd been going on there? If shes scared of monsters make a monster potion for her. 4-6 drops of lavender oil to 6-8 oz of water in a spray bottle. I hate to say it but it may be a sign of a mental illness. I have paranoia, and a minor schizophrenia and i have a lot of bad thoughts before i went to bed when i was her age.

Exercise before bed - a brisk walk, a bike ride, roller skating, etc.

Read a happy story to her.

Say a prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep/ I pray the Lord my soul to keep/ My angels watch over me by night/ And wake me to the morning light."

Play soothing music.

Turn on a night light.

Tell her to think of something that makes her happy.

Tell her you are doing these things rather than lying down with her. Tell her you will check in on her every 15 minutes and do that.

Remember it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Be patient.

We say all of the good things that happened that day and then talk about what we want to dream about....unicorns, a world made of candy, living inside the Mall, new puppies, etc.!

Maybe she's worried.

Talk to her and make her feel comfortable.

Like this It's going to be okay [Name]

Maybe she's worried about something.

Keep talking everyday then she might fall asleep by herself