I'm going to be teaching a class encouraging creativity in our school over the next few weeks, and in my research I have come across a few ideas that I wanted to share with you all:

Remember when we were talking about dreams, managing scary dreams, etc...? Well, one suggestion to help kids realize when they are dreaming is to have them say to themselves as they are going to sleep, "I am dreaming...I am dreaming..." because they soon will be! And practice saying to themselves, "I don't like this, I want to wake up now." Another idea is to tell them that they can bring a friend to their dreams, like the stuffed toy they have in their arms? and that their friend will help them with the dream. And another is to have them draw pictures of the dream, or create it with clay, after they wake up. Helps them process the experience. And be creative!

An unrelated idea for when things get tough during the day: change the lighting. Some industrial study found that workers were more productive in the period when lighting changes were made in the workplace, regardless of what those changes were. So if you're getting into a bad pattern with your kids, reroute your electricity!

through out the day and nite I always am changing the lighting in our house,nothing drastic will open and close blinds at different times of the day or in the front of the house I will change position of the roman shades...Iam always changing which lights are on where...I thought I was obssessive,but it makes a huge difference throughout the day,it is almost like a change of senery.

Melissa

Mitchell is sensitive to light. If he thinks it's too light in the room, he will go around and turn off every lamp in the house. Drives me crazy! And he won't watch TV with the lights on-- in fact, he doesn't want any lamps on in any rooms downstairs when he has the TV on. Must be part bat or something.

or so I guess. I am convinced my DH has sensory issues - he is unbelievably sensitive to smells, certain clothes, tags, detergent, lights, you name it.

Even now, the lighting has to be perfect. When I first met him I just thought he was spoiled - why else would someone insist upon 275 count sheets (at a minimum). But anything less truly annoys him, and any light during a TV or movie drives him nuts. Truly nuts.

So I find this interesting also.

-Karey

Same story here at our house. I love light and open the blinds asap. It drives me nuts when my mil babysits here because she is always turning off the lights and closing the blinds. Feels so depressing. Maybe it has to do with living in so much wet, soggy, grayness!

Thanks for the tips.

Sharon