No Bees Allowed - Conquering night fears one sign at a time

Bad bees coming into my room and stinging me. Owls hooting and tickling me. Cows going poop on me. Spiders. Monsters. These were all big night time fears Katherine had when she was four. All fears that had her getting out of bed multiple times before finally falling asleep, exhausted, several hours later and then waking up in the morning sleep deprived and cranky. Cranky and sleep deprived Katherine was quickly turning us into Cranky Parents. Very Cranky Parents.

A friend told me about "the worry bag." And so we started the worry bag ritual every night. We wrote down three of her fears and then Katherine dropped them, one by one, into the bag with a big "bye bye bad bees" or "bye bye cows going poop on me." It seemed to help ease her fears. But she was still getting out of bed.

We talked about what we could do. Katherine came up with the idea to post a sign on her door letting the bees and owls know they weren't welcome. We made the signs, put them on her door. She stood back, looking at the signs. "Good. Now they know they're not allowed in my room," she said, satisfied. We agreed that one of us would stay upstairs with her, although not in her room. The night time fears were conquered. For the most part. We still stay upstairs, in another room, until she falls asleep. The signs are still there. A few months ago she decided that spiders needed to be told to stay out. "No Spiders Allowed" was added to the door.

One morning last week she climbed into bed with me.
"When I was four bees used to come into my room and try to sting me. Then you made a sign for the door so they knew they weren't allowed in my room. And guess what?  Now they know. No bees come in my room. No Bees Allowed. That's a pretty good sign, I'd say."