Our son Pim (who just turned 6) recently went through a period in which every night he would stand next to our bed because a nightmare had woken him. The nightmare was very consistently about bears, and would leave him very scared. During the day he would sometimes ask me if there really are no bears here in the Netherlands? (There are not, in case you were wondering.)

Of course I tried to comfort and reassure him, but the dreams kept coming back. After a few weeks I suddenly remembered something my sister-in-law once told me after my nephew had a series of bad dreams when he was around that same age: she had given him a toy sword in his bed to fight of his bad dreams, and it had worked like a charm. That night, I taught Pim the following magic spell to empower the bears that would surely come to haunt him in his dreams: I am Pim, and I say: All the bears now go away!!

That night, he didn't have a nightmare. And ever since, he has been sleeping very well. No nasty bears in his dreams anymore. And when a few weeks ago wild boars were threatening to disturb his sweet dreams, we simply changed the magic spell, and again, it worked.

I think the secret is to give the child a way to empower whatever scares them in their dreams. For Pim, the spell worked wonders, for my nephew the toy sword did the trick. I just thought I'd share this little trick in case your child has been suffering from bad dreams. I hope it helps! And if you know of another magic remedy -- please share.

xxx Esther

PS The above illustration is of two of the creatures that were haunting Pim's dreams recently: a bear and a boar are having tea together under a table -- it's by Lieke van der Vorst. I love it!