It’s hard to imagine what our littlest ones may be dreaming about when they are sleeping. Could it be eating ice cream or riding their bikes? When they have bad dreams, especially when children are only beginning to speak and can’t articulate what exactly they dreamt about, as a parent you wonder what possible bad experience that would cause this bad dream, especially when their life experiences is so small.
How frequently do children dream? A study done by David Foulkes showed that only 20% of children are reported to be dreaming when woken up from being asleep where as adults will report to 90% of dreaming. While it is probable that babies do dream, for obvious reason we cannot know what they are dreaming about but with preschoolers who are just starting to talk will speak of dreaming about things such as seeing an animal or thinking of doing an activity. Their dreams tend to be static and plain. There are usually no social interactions, very little feeling and no characters. Most preschoolers also do not report fear in any of their dreams. Yes, there are children who do have night terrors and display an intense fear but it is usually from waking up disoriented by not fully waking.
When people sleep they go through 5 stages of a sleep cycle. One of these stages is REM sleep which is referring to active sleep. This is when your dreams begin. Your brain is actually as active during this sleep stage as it is awake. While adults are only in this phase for 20% of their sleep time babies spend time in this stage more frequently, about 50-80%. During this stage sleep is so important because this is when babies will develop new brain pathways and later will develop language. When they are sleeping they are process everything they have learned when they were awake.
It isn’t until the ages of 5 to 7, dreams start to be longer though they are still not common. Their dreams will begin to contain characters and interactions in a sequence of events. Around the ages of 7, dreams become more frequent and longer. Now they involve feelings and thoughts where the child becomes a participant in their dreams. They start to have a structure and can contain sporadic memories.
It is hard to really understand if and what young children begin to dream as they cannot verbally express and communicate what they are fully. It has been argued that children do dream, no matter the age but do not remember their dreams or do not have the verbal skillset yet to communicate what they are. It is thought that dream recall is not based on a child’s verbal skills but their skill in mental imagery abilities. Children with the most developed mental imagery and visuo-spatial skills report the most dreams.
If you have older kids do you discuss their dreams?
My kids discuss their dreams at length. Lengthy length. Sometimes, I wonder if they’re adding to them just to keep the story going.
Lol! At least you get an interesting story to listen to every once in a while.
I am not sure either of my boys dream – I will have to start asking them. My 11 year old might, but now I am curious. I am a VERY vivid dreamer and almost always remember my dreams.
My daughter had night terrors when she was a child. My son luckily didn’t. He didn’t talk much about his dreams, but boy, my daughter did.
My son has also suffered from night terrors. He says he doesn’t remember the really bad ones.
My youngest will tell me he’s had bad dreams, but can’t tell me what they are about. My oldest giggles and talks in his sleeps so I wish I knew what he was dreaming about!
Mine only talk about the bad ones too. I’d crack up at the sleep giggling and would probably record it!
This is great information. My son will tell about his strange or scary dreams sometimes.
Well, I know what I dreamed about as a child and it was usually my dolls coming alive to attack me…no joke! My kids have dreams of my dad who passed away a lot and flying adventures.
What some interesting findings – I have to admit I hadn’t thought about how childrens dreams may differ from adults before.
I found this interesting, too. All I knew was they dream, too, and most of the time they are good dreams because they smile or giggle in their sleep.
I have fun listening to my girls tell them about their dreams and nightmares. Wait until they have real things to stress about.
When I was younger I had a lot of repetitive, and sequential, dreams. My favorite were the ones where I was a super hero- they seemed to continue like a story from one night to the next, though they never occurred back to back.
I never really thought about this but it makes sense that their dreams start out with simple learned concepts. I wonder how they did those studies.
I often wondered what my kids dreamed about when they were little. We actually do talk about their dreams now that they are older.
We have an almost daily conversation about dreams and nightmares with our two boys who are eleven and four. I’m finding my four year old will talk about them more now but mostly nightmares.
This is pretty interesting. My kids aren’t old enough to really understand what dreaming is or to speak about it, but I’m sure they are having dreams.
If our son has a dream he will tell me what it is. IF he has nightmare we talk him through it and help him understand it is just a dream.
I don’t know for sure if my youngest dreams often or recalls them after he wakes. My oldest is like me, he might or might not dream if he lets himself get enough sleep.
What an interesting article. My children tend to tell me about dreams that are weird or something crazy happened in them. They dream the most amazing dreams at times.
My teen daughter does talk about her dreams. Mostly when she gets woken up from one that was really good and she’s sad she missed the ending!
My kids always have elaborate dreams and I think they add onto the dreams as they tell them.
This is such an interesting topic. I did one of my senior papers or blind people and dreams, and learned a lot. The only time my daughters talk about their dreams are when they are frightening.
My Son had nightmares when he was little. He would wake up so scared but never wanted to talk about the dream. He always ended up sleeping with us for the rest of the night.
I have never asked my kids about their dreams. They are still a little young but i am going to start talking to them about it and see what they say.
My sister has been able to retell what happened in her dreams for as long as I remember. We had some great conversations about it as kids.
We typically only hear our kids’ dreams when they were particularly scary or funny. I need to get into the habit of asking. It’d be a fun peek into their heads.
My daughters both had nightmares when they were toddlers, but as they have gotten a bit older those stopped. They don’t ever say they dream, so I am not sure if they do.
i dont have any children but as a child i used to have weird dreams. ugh. lol
This is interesting. I have always wondered what the small kids are dreaming about. I know they do because they smile or laugh in their sleep.
My 8yr old has woken up laughing. He then started telling me what he was dreaming. It was about an event we’d done earlier in the week. :)
My first born used to have night terrors. She dreamt and saw shadow people. It was scary. My sons don’t remember their dreams, usually. I love hearing about what they dream but sometimes wonder why they have such scary or creepy ones.
I would love to know what my kids dream about, just out of curiosity. Maybe I could hold it over their heads too LOL
I love watching my kids sleep when they were young. I knew for sure they were dreaming when they smiled or even giggled.
I just asked my son what he dreamt about last night and he told me he dreamt about us riding on a sleigh with Santa. It’s so cute to imagine him dreaming about that.
I’ve never thought about what the kids dream about and only ask when they’ve had nightmares.
My friend was just telling me about a particular dream her daughter had. It’s odd to try to think about what little ones are dreaming of.
My son is still young (4 years) and I do wonder if/what he’ll dream about. I’m sure he’ll have some interesting stories to tell!
Some times my girls tell me their dreams especially if it is something really silly or scary. They have always heard me talk about my dreams, so I am assuming they feel like they have to do the same too.
I was actually wondering about this recently because my two year old was crying in her sleep and woke up scared. So I imagined she was having a bad dream! I ask my 7 year old but he never remembers.
Fascinating information about dreams. I have one daughter who always seems to remember her dreams and shares them and another daughter who never seems to remember hers.
My youngest tells me about her dreams and she has some odd ones. She is also having night terrors lately although she usually won’t tell me about them
That’s funny, I DO remember a recurring dream from my childhood about being chased by an alligator…
I have always wondered what kids dream about. When i have asked my kids they never seem to remember very much about it.
Children don’t have the same broad array of life experiences to pull from, so it’s not surprising they don’t have exciting dreams! That must develop as they get older and experience new things!
My eldest son always tells me of his dreams where his deceased grandfather would speak with him. It is only during those times when he gets in trouble at school, or when he does something that I disapprove of. Maybe my dad is guiding him to do the right things.
The dreams of our children can be so unique & mostly something exciting as most times you can see them smiling in sleep. But I agree there are some scary dreams that could wake them at mid-night for which they need some time to come out of it.
THis is iteresting. I do remember dreaming as a kid. I don’t remember at what age it started though.
THis is iteresting. I do remember dreaming as a kid. I don’t remember at what age it started though.
My husband was getting ready for work a few weeks ago and heard my five year old laughing in her sleep. She woke up when he checked on her and told them she was dreaming that she was hiding balls from her aunt and uncle. She still giggles about it. lol
We don’t talk about dreams on a regular basis, but sometimes they come up. It’s always interesting to hear about what they’re dreaming about when they sleep. :)