Dream rescripting can be a powerful way to process and reduce the negative emotions felt after nightmares.

It can be a way for your child to reduce the fear associated with nightmares, so the nightmare can become ‘just a dream’, rather than something which may feel very real.

1. Sit down with your child and let them tell you about the nightmare/bad dream.
2. You, or your child, can write or draw this down. Or you can stick to imagining it.
3. Rewrite the dream into something different – something harmless or even silly

You can scribble out the old, scary dream and draw something new.

Or you can imagine ‘switching the channel’ to a new TV programme and imagine something happier.

It is up to you and your child how you would like to approach this. This can be something fun and creative to do. There are no limits to how you can change the image!  

For example:

1. Bad dream: falling from something tall (e.g., a mountain).
2. Rewrite: a superhero flies down and rescues them.

Click on the image below to download some TV screens which you can work on with your child.