@drmckenziepsych: If your child keeps coming out of their room, it can be exhausting! 😩 If anxiety or fear are present: ▪️Ask about it when calm: “What feels hard about staying in your room?” Try to understand the specific worry (e.g. worried something bad will happen to mommy, to them, worried about monsters, etc.) sometimes kids also have the facts wrong so when you educate them, they’ll feel better! ▪️Acknowledge the worry & don’t dismiss it: “That shadow feels scary when it’s dark.” ▪️Try not to use too much logic like, “of course there’s no monsters, they aren’t real!” this doesn’t make kids’ fears ago away and can end up making them feel worse ▪️They could draw the monster–it helps separate the fear from their mind and can begin to teach them reality from imagination ▪️Maybe you agree to check the room once together before bed (be careful of this turning into more and more times–which creates a reassurance loop we don’t want) ▪️Maybe a night light would help ▪️Or sometimes, telling a story about the monster but making a silly ending to it reduces the fear —> it could sound like this: Parent: “The monster crawled out from under the bed and took a big breath to let out a terrifying roar… but it came out as a tiny squeak, like a rubber duck.” Child (participates, too): “Then it fell over!” Parent: “It did! And its enormous monster pants got stuck over its head. It had to ask your teddy bear for help.” The child gets to play with the scary idea and change how the story ends. A few other things to consider (that were not mentioned in the video) 🔷 if the anxiety is impacting sleep significantly, doesn’t get better & is showing up in other areas of life, you could seek support/learn more about CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), for kids Sending lots of love, Dr. McKenzie 🤍 ⚠️ This is general education only, it is not a substitute for therapy and is not a personalized plan for any one child. This is not professional advice for your specific situation. Seek out support if needed. #childpsychologist #bedtimeroutine #bedtimebattles #parenting #parentinghacks

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