All children dream. Although no one knows if very young infants dream, we can assume that they do. If you watch an infant while he is sleeping, you can observe smiles and rapid eye movements and hear whimpers. Older children have several periods of dreaming each night, even if they do not remember the content of the dreams. Some of these dreams are pleasant and some of them are frightening.

Parents often ask what would give a child frightening dreams. "Certainly," they say, "my child is not under any stress." This is correct: your child does not perceive the same stressful situations that we do as adults. But put yourself in your child's shoes for a moment...your child is walking down the street and a big St. Bernard dog comes bounding toward him, with drool coming out of its mouth, and the dog playfully knocks your child down. Imagine now for a moment, that you are walking down the street and a horse comes galloping toward you and knocks you down. Don't you think that you would have bad dreams that night? Remember that horse seems as big to you as that dog seems to your child.

If your child awakens at night with a frightening dream, comfort him and reassure him. Give him a specific reassurance. For example, if he tells you he woke up because he saw a monster in his bedroom, tell him, "There are no monsters in the house. All the doors are locked and all the windows are closed. There is no way anyone else could be in the house. You had a 'bad' dream. Now you can go back to sleep." The next night, before bed time, show your child that all the doors are locked and windows are closed before taking him to bed, and reassure him that he will sleep through the night without 'bad" dreams.

To help avoid "bad" dreams, be careful about the kinds of television shows your child watches. Some of them, even though they may be popular cartoons are violent and may contribute to your child's frightening dreams. Also be selective with video and computer games.

Night terrors are different than a "bad" dream. In a night terror, your child will "awaken" from a sound sleep, and he will be shrieking. During a night terror, your child will have his eyes wide open and he will seem to be fully awake. He may even resist your attempts to comfort him. But in reality, your child is asleep. You can try to wake your child, but this is often impossible. It is best to hold your child or rub his back until the night terror passes and he goes back to sleep. The next morning, your child will have no memory of the episode.

Night terrors can occur intermittently for several months and then go away for a while. Because your child appears truly terrified, this can be a scary episode for a parent, too. Remember, night terrors do not mean anything is wrong with your child; for some children night terrors are a normal part of growing up. Night terrors appear to be related to inadequate sleep, so try to ensure that your child is receiving adequate rest.