describe it to you in the present tense, as if it were happening now. If you sense fear or resistance from your child to changing a particular dream, respect your child's wishes and spend more time exploring the dream just as it is. If your children are old enough, they can write the re-dream down in a dream journal, or you can do it for them.
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One interesting way your child can create a re-dream is to tell it from the point of view of the scary character in it. This method, described by Alison Bell in her children's book
The Dream Scene
, can help children better understand the frightening part of themselves and give them a sense of control over it. That is what Jamie, whose mother, Mary, had "The Drowning" dream, did with a nightmare he had.
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 | | The Bad Boy Fairy
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| | I'm lying in bed, and a bad boy fairy puts something in my eye. I try to rub it out but can't. I'm mad and scared.
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Jamie shared this dream with his mom in the car one morning on the way to preschool. Mary asked him if he wanted to work on it, and he replied, "Yes, and change it!" Clearly, he had learned something from changing "The Drowning" dream that he wanted to try with his own dream. He pretended, at her suggestion, to be the "bad boy fairy" and retold the dream from his perspective. He put his hands across his face as he was telling the re-dream, which he said represented ''putting on a mask.'' The bad boy fairy, who, it turned out, reminded him of a playmate, said he was "just teasing." Mary said, "I asked Jamie if the bad fairy had any message for him, and he said it was 'I'm sorry.' Then he took his 'mask' off and was quiet for a while. Before getting out of the car, he turned to me and said, 'Mommy, I love you.' It was a touching
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