Fun Ways To Help Your Anxious Child Sleep Better

If your child tends to be a worrier, they may have a hard time turning the worries off in order to drift off to sleep. Some children become more anxious at night when it’s dark and quiet, and there are fewer distractions. As a parent, you may be concerned about your child’s sleep-related anxiety which manifests as increased clinginess, avoidance of sleep with stall tactics, and dread as bedtime approaches.

Below are fun (or fun-ish) strategies and activities to help your child rest easier.

Bedtime Routine

Maintaining a consistent bedtime routine is especially helpful for children who are anxious and struggle to relax before bed. The bedtime routine helps signal to the brain and body that it’s time to wind down for sleep. A bedtime routine should consist of 2-4 relaxing activities that do not rely on screen time and should last 20-30 minutes in total. Examples of activities include reading a book (make sure it’s not an exciting page-turner), stretching, listening to music or meditation app like Calm, coloring, or working on a puzzle.

Journaling

Encouraging your child to keep a journal or diary is a helpful way for them to process their feelings and experiences so it’s not bottled up inside. Journaling can help them gain more clarity and insight as well. Kids who are worriers are likely to have many worry thoughts swirling around. If their brain is like a computer, it can bog down the computer’s memory and storage. Writing down their worries allows them to “upload” these worries onto a journal which serves as an external hard drive.

Worry Dolls

It is a Guatemalan tradition to tell your worries to colorful worry dolls that usually come in a set of six. If your child is not yet able to write or does not like writing, they may find worry dolls helpful. They are relatively inexpensive and available online. Instruct your child to tell one worry to each of the worry dolls and put them under their pillow or in a container like a pouch so worry dolls can work on their worries and make them better by the morning.

Glitter Jars

As a fun project, your child can create a glitter jar for mindfulness using a jar (or any bottle), warm water, clear glue, and glitter (or glitter glue). To make the glitter jar swirl, you can add a few drops of glycerin. Explain to your child that the jar is like our mind and each speck of glitter represents a thought or worry in our mind. When we’re stressed or upset, our thoughts swirl around the jar and it’s hard for us to think clearly. Taking deep breaths can help the glitter (our thoughts) settle so we can think more clearly.

I recommended the book '“Peaceful Piggy Meditation,” which incorporates glitter jars in mindfulness practice. You can purchase the book on Amazon or listen to it on Youtube.

Music

Worrying is often stressful and stress can increase cortisol levels. Research shows that listening to music can decrease cortisol levels. Also, creating and singing silly songs about worries takes the power away from worries so they feel less scary. When we make or listen to music, it can boost dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with reward and pleasure.

Bedtime Passes

A bedtime pass can help reduce the number of times your child leaves their bed after bedtime to check in with you. As a fun activity together, you can work with your child to decorate pieces of paper or popsicle sticks labeled "bedtime pass." They can use stickers and glitter glue to make them extra special.

At bedtime, after your child is all set for bed, used the restroom, had a sip of water, received a goodnight hug and kiss, etc., your child should be given 2-3 bedtime passes they can trade in for any additional reasonable requests (e.g., an extra hug, question, or sip of water). After the passes are used, the parents should ignore further requests. Bedtime passes that are not used can be traded in for a small reward the next day or saved up for a larger reward. Click here to learn more about the bedtime pass.

Contact me for child therapy or parent coaching so you can help your child manage their anxiety and sleep better.