Nightmares

Kieran has nightmares. What kid doesn't? I think Mia's been having a few but can't really express that just yet.

This morning, Ken was away and I had already taken my shower and was getting dressed when I heard a knock on my door. Kieran came in and said he'd had another nightmare.

Sat down with him on the bed, asked if he wanted to tell me about it. Nodded, he did.

"We were walking to school and you and I were talking about how monsters weren't real."

I nodded.

"Then I asked - well, what about the guy who comes to my school and hypnotises us? You said - oh him? He's real."

Hypnotizes? Weird, but okay.... I ask about this. Kieran says, yes the guy looked like a zombie and used a pocketwatch to hypnotize his school so the kids would hit one another.

We talk for a bit about why nightmares happen (worried about stuff). Also I told him that if I were going to hynpotize his school, I'd have them come help us clean house. Then I realize that's a lot of people and my house can't hold them all. So I say maybe just his class, not the whole school.

Which makes him laugh.

After talking about being stressed out, it comes out he is worried because of something that happened last week. He was walking up the stairs and witnessed a bullying of another student. Two older students then turned to Kieran and told Kieran to hit the kid they were bullying. Instead, Kieran hit one of the older kids and raced up the steps.

We talked about why this was not his best choice, what other options he had. But all-in-all I'm not upset or angry with him. He did not hit out of anger, he did not beat upon this kid, just panicked, hit and ran. I sent an email to his teacher about this, beacuse I wanted someone at the school to be aware. I don't really want Kieran getting in trouble for this. It was not the best decision but it was the one he chose. He doesn't know the other kids and it may never have come back around on him, but I felt it was important to be upfront with the school about it, partially as a precautionary and partially as a lesson to always let the adults know about any bullying you witness.

I am hoping that he does OK today. He complained that he didn't want to go to school - that he had a headache, that his hand hurt, etc. He's definitely worried. Poor kid.