Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Our younger grandson is having nightmares about bugs.  He wakes up screaming and sees bugs on the walls where there are none.  But it began with a real bug on the ceiling of his room as he was being rocked to sleep.  Our younger son had the same fear of bugs, well, to be exact, spiders and bees.  He's over forty and still doesn't like them.  Our grandson's imagination is working overtime trying to make sense of the overwhelming world he's discovering.  He likes cows, but their heads are gigantic and their tongues intimidating.  Super big and super little.  What a strange place!  When my daughter asked about a night light I encouraged her.  All four of my kids needed night lights, pretty much throughout childhood.  The dark is an ancient fear, and in the dark we imagine things.  I hope the little guy gets some relief from his sensitivity and relaxes, but all parents have been through that powerless feeling that we cannot allay all fears, no matter how careful we are.  We cannot protect our children from the experience of living in a complex, convoluted environment.  It's a big, sometimes scary world out there, and you can't fool even a toddler.