Nightmares, everyone has them, kids, us, and yes, anything scary really is considered a nightmare. From my experiences with my children, I have to say how much has changed in the content of nightmares. I don’t know about you, but, when I was a kid, what constituted as scary were ghosts, you know the ones like you see on “The Ring”, the deadly faces with long messy hair wearing white…and of course a lot of other demons that would scare the pants off an adult even. How did I know what those from the netherworlds looked like? From movies of course. I remember how I used to be able to watch such scary movies at such a young age. And when I say young, I mean about 5 or 6. Now, I don’t think we would even dream of letting our children watch such horror some, scary movies.

Ask a child who has had some scary nightmare nowadays and they would describe the scary character as – alien like, monsters from cartoons, evil witches or warlords from Harry Potter movies or the like. Yes, it seems that nightmares have gone through some kind of evolution. Amazing, but true. To a child in this day and age, a ghost is something white, like a bedsheet, flying…you know, like Casper?

I wonder if it’s because of the ratings given for films that makes us think not once, not twice, but many times before letting our children watch such scary movies? Me, personally, would rather NOT show them what I used to watch as a child, because I just don’t want to have to deal with, a) really scary nightmares for more than a week, b)unnecessary stress that I would then have to deal with after having watched such a movie, c) “I’m too scared to go to the toilet, etc” and so, trouble myself in the end.

So for now, yes, bring on the “cartoonish” nightmares. It’s easier to handle, it’s not real, you can explain it easily and yes, less hassle for me! Sounds selfish, but your child will thank you when they grow up. What about you? Do you let your child watch movies that are too scary even for yourself (although honestly, not much around nowadays)? Do you find their nightmares are pretty mild compared to what you used to have? Do you think it stems from what they watch in the media? Share your thoughts with us.