Dream Catcher

Little J has been complaining about bad dreams lately. He dreams that people are chasing him. We talk about these uncomfortable dreams, about being scared or worried. We come to the conclusion that it helps to think about stuff that makes us happy. For me it’s the beach, a good book…for J it’s talking about fun plans for the next day, like seeing our friends, going for a hike, making something special.

taking the leaves off of the forsythia branch

When I share this story with a friend, she says her little guy has a dream catcher.
I remembered seeing a post about making your own dream catcher on TinkerLab.
I propose this idea to Little J and he seems settled by this solution.

The next day, we find some strong, flexible forsythia branches, bend them into a circle, attaching the ends with wire.
I sailor knot a colorful string of J’s choosing around the circle and then willy nilly wrap stings around strings, until I have something that resembles a spidery web.

I tell J that the bad dreams are spiky and sticky, so the web will catch them.
We tie a screwdriver to the center of the web. This is supposed to symbolize good thoughts for Little J since he so loves tools and building. The good thoughts are supposed to take those spiky, sticky, bad dreams and throw them out the window.
Good dreams are soft and smooth, so they slip through the web.
As he’s falling asleep tonight, he says, “Only good dreams.”

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