My son is about 5 and a half years old.  The last six months he’s been waking up with bad dreams.  Each of my children seemed to have this problem at one time or another.

To help my daughter with it, I made up Mary Poppins Pockets.

I explained how dreams came from our imagination and the next time she was dreaming, she could reach into her pocket and pull out a .  . .

I had her tell me what it was that was scaring her in her dreams.

A big bug?  What do you want to pull out of your pocket?  A huge can of bug spray?  Daddy’s shoe?  A huge fly swatter?

We had a lot of fun imagining the weapons she would bring out to knock out the scariest terrors dreams can dream up.

They are called “Mary Poppins” pockets

Image via Wikipedia

because just like the Disney movie Mary Poppins who has a magical bag with no bottom, they can imagine pulling really big things as many as they need right out of their pockets with an endless supply.

It gives them a way to share all the scary things and a fun way for me to help them prepare for battle.  The pockets were quite successful at helping her sleep through the night, so I tried it with my son.

So far, since I taught him about his pockets, he’s been sleeping well again.

© 2012 DarEll S. Hoskisson (dsh)